Hybrid
by Adams7
Summary: 24 years have passed since the Reaper War. The galaxy is at peace. But when that peace is threatened by an unknown foe, heroes, new and old will have to step up to defend life as we know it. Gods will fall. Legends will be born. And the Fate of the Galaxy, will be decided. The epic final sequel to "One of Those Relationships" is here. Melodramatic enough for ya?
1. The Hermes

**MEGA A/N: We're finally here; the whole reason I wrote "One of Those Relationships" and its sequels (By the way, if you haven't already checked out the previous installments, do so before you start reading, otherwise you'll probably be confused). **

"**Hybrid." My first major fic. **

**(P.S. Yes, that crappy cover is my work.)**

**This story is going to most likely be 40+ chapters long, maybe longer. To make things easier for me to organize my thoughts, I've divided it into 3 "parts". The first one, which I have completed most of the rough draft for, will most likely be 14 chapters long, the second part I'm estimating at around 20, and the third part could be anywhere from 6 to 60 chapters (probably somewhere closer to 6 though). **

**Each chapter for at least the first part will start with a flashback to Carn's childhood, so you'll get to see plenty of cute little moments (As well as some not-so-cute moments).**

**I'm going to be pulling out all the stops on this one, and feedback is CRITICAL to this story's success. It will be a work in progress, and I may on occasion ask you guys for your opinion on certain things I do. I need criticism on my characters and plot development skills, and feedback on how well I can shape your emotions like clay in the palms of my hands.**

…**Did that last part sound sinister to anyone else?**

**Anyways, this story has a lot of significance to me, because depending on its success and reception, I will determine if I'm ready to start to publishing my original work (obviously starting with just submitting a short story or two to a magazine or something, but hopefully working my way up to becoming a full-time writer).**

** To all you people returning from one of the previous installments: Thank You for sticking with me. I can never express how much it means to me.**

**Well, here it is. With great honor and anticipation, I present to you the first chapter of…**

...

**HYBRID**

_Part I: Renegade_

1: The Hermes.

_Garrus groaned as he was roused from his sleep by insistent mewling. Curled up next to him on the bed, his wife Alice sleepily nudged him. "Your turn…" she mumbled._

_Garrus sighed and climbed out of bed with a grunt, snatching a bottle from the nightstand and going to the crib nearby. "I'm coming, I'm coming" he growled as the cries became louder. Reaching down into the crib, Garrus picked up the crying infant wrapped in blankets, cradling the baby in his arms. "Here you go." Garrus placed the nozzle of the bottle filled with the special dextro-levo formula into the child's mouth._

_The infant instantly quieted and began to suckle on the bottle. For not the first time, Garrus gazed at his son in amazement. The first and only human/turian hybrid in existence, Garrus' son resembled a turian more than a human, with some notable exceptions of course. For example, his plates were softer, and were the same color of Alice's skin with a slight grayish tint. He possessed five fingers, not three. The front of his chest was actually closer to a human male's, and his cowl was notably smaller. He also possessed something turians lacked: fat; making him bulkier than the average turian, but still more lithe than a human._

_Once he finished, the infant released the bottle from his slightly-more-flexible, almost-turian-lips and gave a small hiccup before allowing his large blue eyes to drift shut. Garrus' mandibles fluttered into a small smile as he watched his son sleep in his arms; remembering how lucky he was to be able to do this. Almost a month ago now, Alice had been kidnapped by a mysterious organization on their wedding night. Garrus, along with Alice's father, her twin brother, Commander John Shepard, his wife Ashley, and the entire Normandy crew had searched for her over the next few days, following a trail left by Alice's kidnappers. When they finally managed to track them down to their remote space station, they had discovered that the people who'd kidnapped Alice had experimented on her and managed to fertilize one of Alice's eggs with Garrus' sperm, overcoming the incompatibility of dextro and levo amino acids._

_Alice had gone into labor during their escape, her pregnancy artificially accelerated, and gave birth on the shuttle back to the Normandy. They had chosen to name their son Carn after Alice's father, who had sacrificed himself to make sure they got away. When they returned to the station with a larger force, they had found it destroyed, and the organization that had once inhabited it, nowhere to be found. _

_Garrus had yet to figure out why Alice's kidnappers would have bothered to create a human/turian hybrid, but he had a feeling that it wasn't out of the kindness of their hearts. Even more troubling was the fact that the station had somehow been guarded by three of the new prototype _Normandy_-class SR-3s that Joker had to destroy while Garrus and the others were rescuing Alice. That meant they, whoever "they" were, had influence high up in the Alliance or Hierarchy. While normally, this would have been bad news at best, both governments were recovering from the Reaper War, and the higher-ups that remained were all regarded as heroes and been considered by Shepard to at least be mostly trustworthy, many of them even being friends with the Commander. _

_Garrus was drawn out of his thoughts when he felt a slender, yet strong arm wrap around his waist._

_Alice leaned against him, looking over his shoulder at Carn. "Hey," she whispered softly._

_Garrus smiled at his wife "Hey."_

"_What are you doing?"_

_Garrus shook his head "Just thinking."_

_Alice gazed lovingly at their sleeping son "So, you think something is going right for once?"_

_Garrus' mandibles fluttered into a smile as contentment filled him "Yeah…"_

...

Carn shouldered his duffle bag as he walked through the Illium spaceport, looking around nervously. He was 20 years old now, most of the fat he'd had as a baby had been replaced with hard muscle. His fringe had grown fully, and was only a little shorter than Garrus', reflecting how he was a couple inches shorter in height compared to his father too.

The brilliant blue eyes that his mom had always said she could never decide if they resembled hers or Garrus' more, searched the crowd, trying to find someone. He'd recently dropped out of C-Sec Academy and was now in desperate need of a job. Sure, he could always do what his dad had suggested and work for his uncle as one of the Spectre's agents- a group of operatives that would assist Spectres on their missions when needed, sort of like Shepard's squad on the first Normandy- but he was not exactly keen on spending a lot of time around his father at the moment. Maybe in the future, once he finally made sense of everything that'd happened in the past few years. Regardless, he needed to support himself until then, and with no other options left, Carn had turned to the one person he knew he could trust without a doubt, despite what the rest of their family thought of her: his cousin, Lily.

He reached the agreed rendezvous and waited for his cousin to show. The area of the spaceport he was in was far less crowded than where he'd disembarked from his transport. With Lily's rare golden blond hair, one would think that Carn could have spotted her easily among the few humans mingling with the asari. This was not the case, as Carn couldn't locate his cousin anywhere.

"_Boo_,"

"AAAGH!" Carn started at the voice that had suddenly spoken up behind him without warning. Reacting instinctively, Carn elbowed his ambusher in the face, before sweeping their legs out from under them and pining them face first to the ground.

"Ow…" The human woman who'd startled him groaned.

_Wait a second, I know that voice_. At that moment, Carn noticed with no small amount of embarrassment that the woman had familiar shoulder-length golden blond hair. "Lily?" he asked tentatively.

"Hiyah Carny." Lily moaned.

"Shit, sorry!" He immediately helped his cousin up. Carn saw surprise flicker for a moment in her eyes before she could stamp it down when she saw his face.

"Don't worry about it," Lily said with a shrug, "When did you get so fast anyways?"

"The turian military kinda beats the skill in you." Carn said tensely, restraining the urge to flinch at the mention of his time in the Hierarchy's armed forces.

Lily smiled; he couldn't tell whether or not she'd noticed his behavior. "So, I thought your parents told you not to involve yourself with me and my 'self-destructive ways'?"

"They did," Carn admitted "But I need a job."

"_Oooh_, washed out of C-Sec did you?" she teased.

Carn sighed "Lily…"

"And you've come to little ol' me? I'm flattered!" Lily's eyes twinkled "What makes you think I have a job available anyways?"

"Because you've been begging for me to come work for you in your letters for the past three years." Carn pointed out. He sighed "Come on Lil' I need this. I can't just go and ask Uncle John for a job, that'd mean facing my parents, and I can't do that, not after dropping out of C-Sec too."

Lily grinned "Well you're in luck my hybrid little cousin." She slung an arm over his shoulders and started leading him towards the nearest hanger "It just so happens I _do_ have an opening in my crew for a Gunnery Officer. You're dad taught you how to calibrate right?"

Carn frowned at Lily "Wait, 'crew'? You have a ship?"

Lily laughed "Of course! Why do think I asked you to meet me at the spaceport?"

"I thought you wanted to pick me up and take me to where you worked yourself." Carn said, at little baffled "_You_ have a _ship_?"

Lily gestured as they entered the hanger, "See for yourself."

Carn looked towards where Lily was indicating and his jaw dropped, mandibles spread wide. The mostly deserted hanger was meant for smaller ships without airlocks, although it was large enough for a ship the size of the Normandy to rest in. And it was a good thing too, because the ship Lily was gesturing to was a bit bigger than the other ships in the hanger.

"Say hello to the Hermes." Lily said proudly.

The Hermes was a sleek, jet-black ship. Its design had -at least in part- clearly been inspired by the Normandy. There were a few differences however. For example, it had one engine on each wing instead of two that were longer, reaching far enough forwards that they were only a few dozen meters from being parallel with the bow. The ship was also closer in size to the SR-1 than the SR-2. There were two small turrets on each wing on the top and the bottom, with a larger turret placed on each engine. At the base of the ship, a loading ramp was lowered, revealing a large cargo hold.

Carn gaped at his cousin "How the- what the- who the-"

"The people I work for have _very _deep pockets." Lily explained "I operate on a skeleton crew of five -including myself- to keep costs down, but I think I can fit you in." she started towards the ship, motioning for him to follow, "Come on, I'll introduce you."

At the base of the boarding ramp, Carn could see two people waiting for them. One was a rather tall asari with lilac skin and hard, violet eyes wearing grey pilot overalls. The other, a drell with yellow-tinted scales, was wearing a dark orange and black jacket over brown pants.

"This is Nyn," Lily said, gesturing to the asari "She's the Hermes' pilot." The asari merely regarded Carn with cold eyes. "And that handsome drell right there is my second-in-command, Mort, our… well let's just call him our liaison."

The drell, Mort, stuck out his hand "Pleasure to meet you," he said as Carn shook his hand. "Captain said you and she used to get up to all sorts of trouble when you were younger."

Carn shot Lily a brief glare "She did, did she?"

Lily shrugged "What? It's true."

Carn just shook his head and looked around at the assembled crew "Wait, you said you had _five_ crewmembers. Where are the other two?"

Lily smiled "Follow me." She marched up the loading ramp, Carn and the others trailing behind her. Once he had entered the ship, Carn looked around at the cargo hold. While the exterior resembled the Normandy a great deal, it seemed that the interior was completely different. The cargo hold was vast, and looked to be the main hub of the ship. It was dimly lit with old-fashioned yellow lights that hung from the ceiling far above, a stark contrast to the almost universal use of the vibrant white fixtures most ships possessed. Interestingly, the change gave the hold an almost homey feel, like the entire room was lit by candles. Stacked intermittently along the grey-brown walls were dozens of crates. Off to the side, Carn could see a hovercar anchored to the floor with cables. At the far end of the hold was a door labeled: **Engine Room**. Two sets of stairs ran parallel to either side of the hold, stopping off higher up for a few doors leading to what Carn assumed was the second floor, before doubling back on themselves and finally ending at the third floor, two doors on each side, one going towards the back of the ship, and one going towards the front.

They headed all the way up the starboard stairs, going through the door at the top towards the front. They entered a hallway that ran from port to starboard, a turn at each end, framing the cargo hold. Its lighting was a bit closer to that of the Normandy's, with white fixtures placed intermittently throughout. They turned at a corner halfway down the hall, went past three doors, two on the right, one on the left for what Carn assumed were crew quarters, and entered a large room with a table at the center and a moderately sized kitchen to the port side and lit once more by yellow lights; the mess. Past the mess and through another short hallway containing the airlock was the cockpit. At the very front surrounded by aerogel screens and interfaces of the controls was the pilot's chair. To the left and right of the pilot's chair were two platforms, further back in the center of the room on a raised area with a miniature galaxy map in front of it was the captain's chair, a couple more chairs were situated at the back of the cockpit off to the sides, each with their own terminals.

"Nice," Carn said appreciatively, admiring the ship "Very impressive."

"Thank you; I pride myself on my impressiveness."

"God and Spirits!" Carn jumped at the chipper male voice that spoke over the intercom without warning.

A glowing red hologram of a scrawny human male, maybe in his late teens appeared on the platform to the right of the pilot's chair with a confused expression on his face. "What? What did I do?"

On the opposite platform, another hologram -this time blue and of an asari- appeared. "There you go again, scaring the new crew." She said with a shake of her head. She acknowledged Carn "I'm Cyan, the Hermes' AI, and that inconsiderate fool over there is Mars."

"Sup," said hologram nodded to Carn.

Carn's eyes widened and he turned to Lily "You have _two_ AIs on your ship? _Two_?"

Lily shrugged "They keep each other in check."

"You mean _I_ keep _him_ in check." Cyan said flatly. She turned to Carn "Mars is an experimental new breed of AI." She glared at her counterpart's avatar "However, he has a tendency to develop…_ quirks_. I'm here to ensure that he does not blow up the kitchen 'for the lolz'."

"I resent that!" Mars cried indignantly "I would _never_ blow up the kitchen just for the lolz!"

Carn noticed that suddenly everybody was glaring at Mars. The AI fidgeted under the scrutiny before breaking "Okay, there was that one time, but I promised never to do it again!"

Lily rolled her eyes "See what I mean?" she nodded to his duffle "You got everything you need? We were coming to Illium on a job when you called and I really don't want to delay any long-"

"Now wait just a damned minute!" Carn cut in "I never said I accepted the job, just that I needed one. If you want me to work with you Lil', I'm going to need a little more information."

Behind him, Carn heard Nyn snort "Typical"

He ignored the asari and stared intently at his cousin. Lily shrugged "Fair enough, what do you want to know?"

"First of all, who do you work for?" Carn asked pointedly.

Lily shrugged again "Hell if I know, we're mostly contacted through a representative. Probably some rich old guy on Bekenstein though. Most of the time they let us take whatever jobs we want from any client, in exchange we just handle the occasional job they pick out for us."

Carn frowned, _Odd…_ "Alright, what exactly do you _do_?"

"We're on Illium cuz," Lily said with a grin "I'll give you three guesses, and no 'indentured servitude' is not one of them."

Carn's predatory eyes narrowed "Smuggling?"

Lily shrugged for a third time "Sometimes, yeah. We also deal in extractions, reconnaissance, and the occasional acquisition of certain valuable items."

"You mean stealing." Carn said darkly.

"To-may-to, To-mah-to" Lily rolled her eyes "Come on cuz, I have some morality- not a lot admittedly, but some." She locked her eyes with Carn's "What do ya say?"

Carn thought it over. He really didn't want to get involved in anything illegal, but he needed a job, and Lily had always stuck by him before… "Alright," he said finally "But just until I can find another job."

Lily beamed and loped an arm over Carn's shoulders, leading him out of the cockpit. "Excellent! I'll show you to your cabin. Nyn, prep the car, we leave in ten minutes."

"Yes Captain," the asari pilot said curtly, her voice firm.

Lily led Carn back to the cargo hold and down a floor, going to the port side of the ship. Like the deck above, the second floor had a hallway ringing the cargo hold, on the port edge of the hallway, at the corner towards the bow was the door to his cabin. It was average sized, large enough for comfort, but small enough for efficiency. There was a bed with a nightstand, a desk, a couch, a couple chairs, a coffee table, and a bathroom that was squeezed into the corner. He even had a window.

"Cozy ain't it?" Lily said cheerfully "The lounge is the room right behind yours, and the main battery and turret controls are towards the front, past the armories."

"Turret controls?"

Lily nodded "Yep, Mars controls the four auto-turrets we have on the wings, but the two turrets on the engines are controlled manually from the main battery."

"Why doesn't Mars control all the guns?" Carn asked.

"Processing power," Lily explained "Mars also provides tactical analysis in combat and manages the scanners. Cyan keeps an eye on the ship's status and operates our Cyber Warfare suites. In a pinch, Mars can aid Cyan in the cyber warfare to launch a two-pronged attack." She motioned to his duffle "You have your own armor and weapons?" Carn nodded "Good, get geared up and meet us in the cargo hold in five. I'll brief you there."

Once Lily had left, Carn sighed and dropped his duffle on the bed, starting to unpack. He took out his clothes and tossed them in a heap on the bed, intending to sort through them later. He took out his set of medium armor and with practiced movements, put it on piece by piece. He was luckily able to fit into a standard set of turian armor, with only the gloves needed to be custom-made. He took out his sniper rifle and pistol, attaching them to their appropriate spots on his armor. Once he was all geared up, Carn grabbed his helmet and put it on over his head, concealing his face.

"Vakarian, the rest of the crew is waiting for you." Cyan's cool voice projected over the intercom.

Nodding, Carn quickly left his cabin and headed for the cargo hold. Lily and Mort were gathered around the hovercar, watching Nyn undo the cables holding it in place. At the sound of his footsteps coming down the stairs, Lily turned and smiled at him "Glad you could make it."

"What's the mission?" Carn asked, getting straight to the point.

Mort chuckled "Ah the old 'I'm going to be all professional because I don't plan on sticking around' act." The drell glanced back at his asari crewmate "I remember Nyn acted the exact same way when she first came on board."

"She's _still_ acting that way." Lily said with a smirk.

"Do I need to come over there and smack you two around with my biotics?" Nyn said flatly as she undid the last of the cables anchoring the hovercar down "Because you know I will."

Carn cleared his throat "Not to be rude, but what's this job exactly?"

Lily nodded and gestured for Carn to step closer "Our client wants us to retrieve some data from a hidden lab in Nos Astra's marketplace. You, me, and Mort will head over there with the car and, while Mort is busy "shopping" you and I will sneak in, grab the data, and get the hell out of there before they're none the wiser."

Carn frowned "What _kind_ of 'data'?"

"Data regarding an experimental new form of Red Sand the lab is developing." Cyan's avatar popped up next to Carn. "Mars and I have already tried to access it remotely, but the server is isolated."

Carn glared at Lily beneath his visor "_Red Sand_?"

"Now you understand why I want you in armor." Lily said. When Carn continued to glare at her she held up her hands "Hey, if it makes you feel better, the client is a pharmaceutical company, they probably want it for some benign, helpful reason."

Carn snorted at the blatant lie, but didn't comment further. He didn't like dealing in drugs, but at the moment, he didn't see any other option if he wanted to keep the job. _Hopefully_, he mused, _I'll be able to persuade Lily from doing any more drug jobs in the future._

_God and Spirits, what have I gotten myself into?_

…

They took the hovercar from the hanger to the marketplace. Once they had parked (apparently, Lily hadn't improved her driving skills in the past six years) Mort headed off to do "shopping"- whatever that meant- while Lily lead Carn through the crowds. He had worried that he would stand out in armor, but he soon saw that he was not alone in being dressed for combat; dozens of mercenaries were also wandering through the masses in armor, making him feel a little less conspicuous. Lily, on the other hand, stood out like a sore thumb. Instead of wearing the multicolored suits and dresses that were common, she was dressed in a beaten red leather jacket over a plain white shirt and tight brown pants with a pistol strapped to each hip.

It was a good thing she stood out so much too, because Carn was having trouble keeping up in the bulky armor, needing to resort to shoving people out of the way. Lily, on the other hand moved through the crowds as if she was made of water, slipping and flowing through even the smallest of gaps. Finally, Lily headed into a small store, and Carn followed her, not even bothering to look at the sign.

He found Lily browsing through the shelves. Joining her, he whispered "This is the place?"

Lily nodded, picking up an item, examining it as she whispered back "Yeah, our client knew the location; they just needed someone to go in and grab the data discreetly. The lab will probably be behind a hidden door in the back room."

Carn was about to reply when he finally noticed what the item in Lily's hand was. "Wait a second…" he said, mortified "Are we in a-"

"Oh don't be a prude." Lily said, rolling her eyes "This place is tame compared to most areas on Illium." She put the… item… back and walked over to the batarian at the counter in the rear of the store. "Excuse me?" she said smoothly "Do you have any… _else_ for sale? In the back perhaps?"

Carn rolled his eyes as he followed her. _REAL subtle Lil'_.

The batarian eyed Lily and Carn "Another human/turian couple? I swear your kind has been popping up like maggots ever since that Vakarian and his human bitch had their mutant baby."

Carn bristled and was about to strangle the offending clerk when Lily laughed "I _know_ right? It's like all of a sudden human/turian relationships are 'in' now." She smiled sweetly, leaning against the counter and casually brushing a few stray strands of hair out of her face, her eyes twinkling slyly "I have more _refined_ tastes."

The clerk snorted "Asari?"

Lily threw her head back in a laugh once more "Hardly, too feminine for my tastes." She ran her eyes over the batarian hungrily. "No, I prefer more _masculine_ species."

The clerk's four eyes studied Lily carefully "_Really_?"

Lily's voice dropped to a husky whisper "_Definitely_, know anyone who can fit the bill?"

Carn's eyes widened beneath his helmet. Was Lily seriously flirting with this guy? And it was _working_?!

The clerk smirked "Well I suppose I can 'show you the back'." He opened the door behind the counter and eyed Carn "I suppose your… friend… isn't coming?"

"Bodyguard," Lily corrected, sliding over the counter "His job is to make sure nobody takes _advantage_ of me." She gazed seductively at the poor batarian from beneath her lashes. "But you would _never_ do something like that would you?"

The clerk's grin widened "Of course not… ma'am"

Lily giggled- actually giggled! -and followed the clerk through the door, shutting it behind her. Carn just stood there, gaping in disbelief as he tried to process _what the FUCK just happened_? Carn winced, poor choice of words.

Less than thirty seconds after it had closed, the door opened again to reveal Lily "Come on," she said, beckoning for Carn to join her "We don't have all day."

Still more than a little confused, Carn climbed over counter and followed Lily back into the storage room. Looking around, Carn found the clerk slumped in the corner, unconscious. Lily activated her omni-tool and ran it along the walls. "Aha!" she cried triumphantly as a section of the wall slid away to reveal a hidden room "The stupid clerk probably didn't even know this was here." She said, activating the lights and stepping into the lab.

Carn followed Lily in. The room had various lab equipment scattered throughout it along with one or two terminals. "Where is everyone?" Carn asked.

"They probably only work during the night shift," Lily guessed, moving to one of the terminals "try and draw as little attention as possible, ya know?"

Carn looked around the lab for a few seconds while Lily worked, noting how aside from the equipment, the room was completely empty. _Odd._ Finally, he spoke up "So," he said uneasily "Do you normally seduce helpless clerks and then knock them out?"

Lily shrugged "Only when it suits my needs. Why?"

Carn shook his head "It's just…" his voice trailed off when he noticed the worried expression on Lily's face. "What's wrong?"

"This." Lily stepped aside so Carn could read what was displayed on the terminal. Instead of the data they were supposed to retrieve, all the terminal showed was a single sentence: **Got you.**

_Click._

Carn and Lily spun around as he heard the sound of a gun being cocked, reaching for their weapons. Standing behind them, a pistol trained on Carn's head, was the batarian clerk Lily had knocked out earlier. "Ah ah," he said as Lily moved to draw her pistol "You don't want to do that Captain. Unless of course you want your friend here to wind up like Noclak."

Lily glared at the "clerk", but her hand moved away from her pistol "Dread sends his regards I take it?"

The batarian sneered at Lily "You didn't really expect to evade us forever did you Captain? Nobody escapes the Scourge of the Terminus."

"Funny, the last guy said the exact same thing." Lily quipped.

"_Last guy?"_ Carn's brow plates furrowed as he listened to the exchange. _She's run into these guys before?_ _What have you gotten yourself into Lil'…_

The batarian's eyes narrowed "You think I'm just another pushover grunt?"

"Pretty much yeah." Lily said dryly.

The batarian laughed "Well then you're mistaken, I'm a professional."

"_Oooh_, I'm _sooooo_ _scared_!" Lily said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The batarian sneered at Lily "Do you have _any_ idea how much money your pretty little head is worth? I could shoot you between the eyes right now and be set for _life_! But you know what? Dread would prefer that you're alive when I deliver you to him. He wants to make your death _special_." The batarian grinned evilly and tightened his grip on the gun, aiming right at Carn's skull "He said nothing about your crew however. So unless you want me to shoot your friend between the eyes, you'll-"

_BANG!_

Carn flinched a little at the gunshot. There was a _thump_ and Carn looked to see the batarian laying on the ground dead, a hole right between his four eyes. He turned and was surprised to see Lily with a pistol drawn, having fired from the hip.

Lily grinned and twirled her pistol before slinging it back in its holster. When she saw Carn looking at her, Lily shrugged "What? I he was starting to monologue."

Carn continued to stare at her in disbelief from beneath his helmet for a moment before shaking his head and heading towards the exit. "We should get moving, someone could have heard the shot." _And then I have a LOT of questions for you._

He got the vague feeling that behind him, Lily was rolling her eyes "So? It's Illium. Random gunshots are kinda common."

Carn decided to ignore her and left the back room, exiting the shop and heading back to the hovercar. Behind him, he could hear Lily radioing Mort and telling him to meet them back at the car. Once they reached where the hovercar was parked, Mort already waiting for them, Lily called Nyn and told her to start up the Hermes. They quickly returned to the spaceport (Mort driving this time) and entered the hanger, maneuvering the car up into the Hermes' hold, and raising the boarding ramp behind them. Once they were back on the ship and had anchored the hovercar once more, Carn felt the rumble of the engines vibrate through the floor as the Hermes took off.

Lily and Mort, who until this point had seemed rather tense, both breathed a sigh of relief once the ship had cleared the hanger, although they clearly still weren't fully relaxed. "Nyn," Lily said, moving up the stairs to the top floor "I want us at the relay within the hour."

"**Any specific destination Captain?"** Nyn asked over the intercom, her voice still just as blunt as before.

"I hear Omega is nice this time of year."

"**Yes Captain." **

Carn removed his helmet and marched after his cousin "Lily! What-"

"I know you have questions Carn," Lily interrupted, looking back at him "but please, wait until we're sure we're not being followed." She pleaded "Just… change out of your armor and wait in the mess for me. I swear, I'll explain everything."

Carn sighed in frustration and headed to his room on the second floor. Once he was safely inside the cabin, Carn mechanically started the process of removing his armor- something he was more experienced with than he would have liked. Because he had been pressed for time when he had put on his armor, Carn had kept the clothes he was wearing on underneath instead of putting on a thermal regulating under suit as he would normally. As such, his shirt and pants stuck to his plates from sweat. He quickly stripped, lazily tossing his dirty clothes in a corner until he could wash them. He took a quick trip to the bathroom to wash off all the remaining sweat in the small shower within. After that, Carn went over to where his duffle was lying on the bed and grabbed a fresh shirt and pants. Because his genitals were internal when not in use like a turian, he didn't need to bother with underwear (although he still liked to wear briefs, what with his human sense of modesty and all).

Once he was dressed, Carn thought for a moment and decided to unpack before he went up to the mess. _No sense waiting around with nothing to do for God knows how long._ He took his armor and put it in a locker supplied in his room. Once he had done that, Carn took his guns and laid them out on the desk, he would take them over to the armory later. He looked out the window and saw that they had left Illium's atmosphere, his view now consisting of a field of stars. He turned back to his duffel and resumed taking out his stuff. He set his terminal on the desk, next to his weapons, and put his toiletries in the bathroom. He continued to unpack, putting his clothes in the drawers, and taking out the few pictures he had brought with him.

As he set each picture down on his desk, he spent quite a while staring at each one. The first picture was of his parents, standing behind him on the day he'd graduated from boot camp. His mom was giving the camera her usual gentle smile, something that still warmed his heart to this day. His father had his arm around Carn's shoulders, beaming with pride. Carn felt a sharp pang in his chest as he saw the blue colony paint on his 16 year old face. Unconsciously, he reached up a finger and traced the marks. He forced himself to set the picture down and reached for the next one. Carn smiled when he saw that it was a picture of him and Mordin, taken when they were kids. Carn was six, and hanging off of Mordin's shoulders, laughing with glee while the young krogan was trying to pull him off, a little annoyed perhaps, but there was a small smile on his lips. Carn put that picture down right next to his terminal along with several others.

Finally, he reached the last frame and, steeling himself, picked it up. As soon as he rested his eyes on the photo, Carn felt a powerful ache in his heart. From the picture, a young human woman gazed up at him. She had lovely hazel eyes; a tulip was tied into her ponytail, the glow of her vibrant red hair reflecting off the petals, turning the flower orange. Freckles sprinkled her nose, and her lips were pulled back into a smile aimed solely at him. The ache in his chest grew as Carn longingly stroked the image with his thumb.

_Anna_…

He turned and headed over to his bedside, setting the picture down on the nightstand. He gazed at the image for a moment longer before turning to leave his cabin. He made his way up to the mess. Sitting down at the table, Carn waited several minutes for Lily to join him. Finally, half an hour later, Lily, Mort, and Nyn all came back from the cockpit.

"We're safe in the Omega Nebula." Lily said, sitting down across from him "Mars is piloting the ship." Mort sat down at the head of the table while Nyn leaned casually against a counter in the kitchen, her arms crossed over her chest. "So," Lily asked calmly "What do you want to know?"

"How about who the _hell_ did you piss off?" Carn asked, his frustration finally showing "Let's start with that."

Lily nodded "Fair enough I suppose." She locked her brown eyes with Carn's blue ones "As I'm sure you've guessed, in our line of work we get many enemies. Recently, we've found ourselves at odds with a powerful pirate known as Dread, Scourge of the Terminus."

"What'd you do?" Carn asked.

Lily shrugged "What didn't we do? We've been giving him hell for almost a year now, stealing his loot, harassing his raiders to protect a transport, delivering supplies to planets under his heel, blowing up his flagship with a toaster, you name it, we've done it."

"They've been trying to kill us for a while now." Mort said, "The last time they caught up with us, they…" his voice trailed off.

"They killed Noclak, our engineer." Nyn finished darkly "They mean business, and won't hesitate to kill us all if they have the chance."

There was a long silence as Nyn's words hung ominously in the air. Finally, Carn stood up, his voice surprisingly calm. "Thank you for telling me. Now, if you'd be so kind as to drop me off on the nearest Council planet, I'll find my own ride back to the Citadel."

Lily started, bolting to her feet "What? You're _leaving_? You just got here!"

"Yeah, and clearly I made a mistake." Carn said sharply "I should have stuck with trying to find a job on my own. I want no part of… whatever the hell you've mixed yourself up in."

Lily's eyes narrowed as she fixed Carn with a hard glare "Mort, Nyn, give us some privacy." The asari and drell complied and quickly left the mess, leaving Carn and Lily alone. The cousins faced off for a long time, neither willing to back down. Finally, it was Lily who broke the silence "I noticed you're not wearing your colony paint."

Carn instantly deflated "Yeah…" he murmured, averting his gaze.

Lily continued "I may not be an expert on turian culture, but I know that a turian only would remove his colony markings if he either got banished from his family for doing something irredeemable or…"

"…Or gone into self-imposed exile." Carn finished darkly, lowering his gaze to the floor.

Lily's gaze softened "Carn," she said gently "What happened?"

Carn scoffed "What _didn't_ happen? I got dishonorably discharged from the turian military and had my citizenship revoked. I've disgraced my family and disappointed everyone. Mom and Dad are ashamed of me, I know it. And Anna…" his words caught in his throat, he could feel tears threatening to well up inside him and quickly stamped them down. Taking a deep breath, he continued "Nothing I've been doing is working, and now I've dropped out of C-Sec. I… I feel like I'm lost at sea during the middle of a storm with no land in sight."

Lily's expression grew kind as she walked around the table to silently lay a hand on Carn's arm. Ignoring the gesture, he continued bitterly "Besides, I'm a 'freak of nature who should never have been born'."

Carn felt Lily stiffen. When she spoke, her voice trembled with barely contained rage. "They've been bothering you again haven't they?" When Carn nodded in affirmation she swore "I thought your parents and mine took care of those assholes."

Carn shrugged "Same shit, different people, you can't expect everyone to be intimidated by the Shepards and Vakarians."

Lily sighed and shook her head. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Carn saw her lips twitch into a small smile. "It sounds like you're running away, just like I did." She wrapped and arm around him "And who better to run away from family but with family?" Lily looked up at her little cousin, "Come on, stay. We could use you."

Carn sighed "I don't know Lil'…"

"It'll be just like old times." She persisted "Please Carny?"

Before Carn could answer, Mars' avatar appeared on the table in miniature form. "Pleeeaaassseee?" he begged, his eyes pleading "I could use another person to anno- I mean _talk_ to. Nyn's no fun."

Carn blinked at Mars, a little surprised "Were you listening in the whole time?"

"Maybe."

"Come on Carn," Lily said "What do ya say?"

With a heavy sigh, Carn caved in "I'll probably regret this, but alright, I'll stay."

"YAY!" Mars cried in delight, his avatar jumping up and down.

Lily grinned "I knew you'd come around." She held up her hand, fingers spread wide "No Shepard…"

Carn smiled and pressed his hand against hers, lacing their fingers together. "…Without Vakarian."

…

John Shepard sat at his desk in the Spectre headquarters, shifting through the piles of datapads stacked in front of him. He picked up a note from Aethyta, the newly appointed Asari Councilor after Tevos' retirement, requesting that a Spectre be sent to investigate a string of disappearances at the edge of asari space. It was most likely pirates, but John decided that some investigation would be required.

He sighed when he also noticed that he had another message from Miranda on his terminal. The Human Councilor for almost 24 years now, Miranda Lawson had proven to be an excellent politician, even though she hadn't even wanted the position in the first place, and she was determined to let Shepard never forget that it was because of him that she had been stuck with it. During the initial months of the reconstruction, the Council had been in turmoil. Two of the Councilors were dead, Udina having yet to be replaced and Sparatus having given his life to save the other Council members when the Reapers invaded the Citadel. The turians managed to find a replacement fairly quickly, but the human leadership had been decimated, leaving finding a replacement difficult.

Naturally, some suggested Hackett, but he declined, opting instead to lead the Alliance until the new President and Parliament were chosen. The next choice had been John himself, but he quickly shot that down. He had enough trouble dealing with politicians on a regular base, but doing it _all the time_? No. Just no.

Still, he needed to find a suitable alternative or else he would have to take the job. After careful consideration, he'd pointed to Miranda, who had been recently granted a full pardoned for her affiliation with Cerberus by the Alliance. Virtually nobody was happy about the idea of the woman who at one point had been the Illusive Man's second-in-command gaining such a powerful position. Plus there was the fact that Miranda didn't even _want_ the job. John had merely said "Fuck that, I'm Commander Goddamn Shepard, I'll do what I want!" and… ahem… _convinced_ Miranda and the Council to agree.

As soon as Miranda had been sworn in, along with the other new Councilors for the krogan, quarian, and geth, she had called for a vote to reinvent the Spectres making them a more organized force, with John at its head. All the Councilors agreed, and John was declared Supreme Commander of the Spectres. He remembered very well that after this, Miranda had approached him with a smile on her lips and said "Payback's a bitch isn't it, _Supreme Commander_?" He had to admit she was right. Having no choice in the matter, Shepard eventually was forced to accept the position.

With a resigned sigh, John opened up the message and read through it quickly before swearing to himself. There had been another hitch in the funding for the construction of the top secret Vigil Station. What was intended to eventually become the Spectres' headquarters had been under construction for the past three years. When complete, Vigil station was supposed to be able to travel through the relays so that it would never stay in one location too long and house every single Spectre, agent, and their families (with an ulterior motive of also acting as Liara's new Shadow Broker base, allowing her to finally get off the Normandy). The station was still a giant frame floating in a remote location, construction barely having progressed on it. Hopefully, now that the geth and quarians had finished rebuilding Rannoch, progress would speed up, but for now, the project had once again been put on hold.

His terminal chimed and his secretary's calm voice spoke through the speakers. "Commander, Agent Raskos is here to see you."

Shepard nodded "Send him in Lee."

The door to Shepard's office opened and a tall, bird-like alien stepped through. Shepard nodded cordially to the alien "Agent, thank you for coming."

Raskos was a raloi, an avian species hailing from the planet Turvess. Raloi were akin to a terran eagle crossed with a velociraptor. They possessed a sharp beak and were covered almost completely in feathers except for their hands and feet. The males had a small crest on the top of their heads like a terran cardinal, which the females lacked. The color of a raloi's feathers varied based on what region of Turvess they'd originated; Raskos' feathers being mostly brown with flecks of grey and white, especially on his crest. The most interesting feature of the raloi however, were their wings. Because of Turvess was covered almost entirely in steep, jagged mountains, the raloi had originally evolved as climbers, with strong arms and legs and five talons on each hand. Once they'd evolved to gain the ability of flight the raloi, unlike their terran counterpart, kept their hands, only with four talons, the fifth digit growing out to form the remainder of the wing. What made the raloi's wings unique; was that they had the ability to compact so as to not get in the way. A raloi's arm/wing had three joints, with about a quarter of the total wingspan between them. When fully extended, the raloi's wings resembled that of any other bird, with the hands at the second joint. Beyond the second joint, the bones were much smaller, and exactly proportional in length to the first two joints. When the wings were not in use, they would bend at the second joint, folding the far end back onto the first half, the third joint lining up with the first joint, what acted as the raloi equivalent of an elbow. The feathers compressed and overlapped one another so that, once the wings were completely folded back, you almost couldn't tell that they'd been there in the first place.

When the raloi first made contact with the Council, they were forced to wear environment suits due to an outbreak of the H7N7 avian flu. Fortunately, they were now able to walk around freely thanks to the salarian STG providing the raloi with vaccinations three years after the Reaper War. During the war itself, unwilling and unable to fight the Reapers, the raloi had isolated themselves on their planet, destroying all their space-capable technology and hoping that they were ignored as a pre-spaceflight species. Once the war had passed, the raloi emerged once more to rejoin the galactic community. Naturally, this has caused many in Council space, and several outside Council space as well, to regard the raloi as cowards and, while they were still greeted with open arms, there had been an undertone of hostility in relations ever since. Interestingly enough, the one race that bore absolutely no ill will to the raloi was the rachni. Perhaps it was because both races communicated through song (although the raloi were still capable of speech) and thus a bond was created between them.

"Commander," Raskos stood at attention (a habit he'd picked up during his time working for the Spectres), his voice was akin to both the cry of a hawk and the chirp of a songbird. "You wished to speak with me?"

John nodded, yet refrained from standing. Raskos, like most raloi, wore very little clothing when not in armor. His arms were- of course- bare. His chest was adorned only by a beaded necklace with a fang from one of Turvess' many predators. A loincloth was worn over his legs, the tunic flowing almost to his knees. Over his crest, he wore a silver scale torn from the same creature the fang on his necklace came from, the insignia of his tribe painted on it in the beast's crimson blood. Overall, John thought he resembled one of the old Native American warriors he'd read about.

"Yes," he said, motioning for Raskos to sit in the chair opposite him. Raskos hesitated before complying, his tail-feathers fitting through a gap in the lower back of the chair designed for just such a purpose. John folded his hands in front of him and continued "I wished to talk to you about your last mission with Javik."

Raskos bowed his head "Did I do something wrong? Spectre Javik seemed to have no concerns with my performance. Not that he exactly praised me either but…"

"Javik's just like that." Shepard shook his head "No, he actually said that you 'were beneficial to the mission,' high praise coming from him. In fact, you're overall performance has been exceptional. I've talked with the Council, and the raloi ambassador, and while they weren't all pleased, they've agreed to consider you for Spectre status."

Raskos' hawk-like eyes widened "S-Spectre status? I-I don't know what to say…"

"Don't start celebrating yet," John said with a slight smile "We still need to test you. Since you seem to work well together, Javik will handle the evaluation. You'll be working with him over the next several missions while he makes sure you're ready. If all goes well, then you'll be given the honor of becoming the first raloi Spectre." John stood slowly, his weakened muscles straining to support his weight. Raskos stood as well and shook his hand. "Good luck."

…

John limped down the hall in the primary Spectre offices, supporting himself with a cane. It was slow going, the cybernetics that had brought him back to life had been severely damaged at the end of the Reaper War, although the extent of the damage had gone unnoticed until three years later when, during the mission to find where Alice's kidnappers had taken her, the cybernetics keeping his heart and lungs working failed. He had nearly died again that day, and it was only thanks to the timely intervention of Ashley and Chakwas that he'd survived. They had needed to prioritize the power distribution of his cybernetics to keep his core bodily functions active and had to take the power from his legs. Since that day, John had had three heart attacks, two of them in the last year. Not that the rest of the galaxy knew that; he didn't want people thinking he wasn't still a badass after all.

As John limped into the training room, he heard Jack's harsh voice echoing through the room "That the best you got Junior?! _Joker_ can hit harder than that!"

As smile touched John's lips as he watched his 19 year old son David Anderson Shepard engage in a biotic sparring match with his tutor. Currently, the former fugitive and current headmaster of Grissom Academy had a barrier up to deflect a Shockwave David was throwing, one of her trademark snarl/smirks on her lips. David growled in frustration and, as biotic energies swirled around him, slammed his fist into the floor. Jack barely had time to roll out of the way as the metal deck she had been standing on moments before released a large biotic blast.

Jack laughed "Nice try Junior, but did you forget who taught you that trick?"

John decided to make his presence known "Did _you_ Jack?"

Jack turned and grinned at John "Hell no! I don't suppose you'd be up for a round or two?"

John shook his head "You know I want to Jack, but Chakwas will eat me alive if I exert myself."

Jack threw him a fake pout before turning back to David "Ready for another round Junior?"

John saw his son smile for a brief moment before stamping it down, replacing it with a professional mask. "Of course Ms. Nought."

John shook his head at his son's behavior "I'm afraid your training will have to wait, I need to speak with you David."

His son nodded and gave Jack a respectful bow, a habit he'd picked up from his martial arts classes. "Another time, Ms. Nought."

Jack rolled her eyes "Yeah, yeah, stop sucking up." She said good-naturedly.

David went over to his father while Jack cleared the sparing ring. As soon as he was in front of him, David saluted his father and stood at attention. "You wished to see me Commander?"

John sighed and rubbed his eyes "David, how many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that?"

David immediately relaxed "Sorry Dad,"

John shook his head and headed back out of the training room, motioning David to follow him. They had left the Spectre Offices and were taking the stairs up to their apartment before John spoke.

"Have you spoken with your sister recently?"

David frowned at the question, confused "Dad, I haven't spoken with Lily in almost six years. You know that. Why…?" his eyes narrowed "This has something to do with Carn doesn't it?"

John sighed and nodded, cursing his son's insight "We have reason to believe that Carn has joined up with your sister."

David swore angrily "Why can't that selfish bitch just do everyone a favor and get herself killed already?"

There was a time when John would have been horrified to hear his son say that, now it just made his heart heavy. David and Lily had never had the best of brother-sister relationships, in spite of John's attempts to get them to grow closer. Lily had inherited her mother's fiery temper, and brash behavior, as well as her father's curious nature, while David had gotten his parents military discipline and his father's slow burning, volcanic rage. At times, John thought he could see a little of the more playful side of his son that Lily had exhibited so prominently, but it was always immediately stamped down.

"Why Carn always followed her around like a lost puppy when we were kids I'll never know." David was saying angrily "All she'll do is drag him down with her."

"Don't dismiss your cousin so easily." John told his son "He may be close to Lily but he doesn't blindly idolize her. I'm sure if she was doing something truly heinous he would not join her…"

David sighed "I know, I'm just worried…" David frowned as he noticed that his father's breathing was getting steadily heavier as they walked up the stairs. "Dad, are you okay?"

John waved off his son's concerns, saying between breaths "Of course… it's just… just been a long day… is all."

Concern immediately showed on David's face and he quickly draped his father's arm over his shoulders while wrapping his other arm around John, supporting him. "Come on Dad, we're almost at our floor."

John snorted "I'm _fine_, David… there's… there's no reason to be concerned."

"Sure Dad, whatever you say." David said flatly, not releasing John.

With a shake of his head, John resigned himself to being supported by David all the way to their apartment overlooking the Presidium. He would never admit it out loud, but he _was_ tired. Soon, they reached the top of the stairs and David practically carried John the rest of the way to the door of their apartment. John keyed the access code with the hand holding his cane and the door swooshed open. As soon as they entered the spacious apartment, John could hear the clamor of clawed feet on hardwood as a streak of grey and light blue rounded the corner into the entry hall, eager to welcome his master home.

"Down Urz," John scolded when the varren tried jumping up to lick his face, despite the smile on his face at the varren's affection.

Following the commotion, John's smile grew wider as Ashley entered the entry hall from the kitchen, a dirty rag and a disassembled pistol in her hands. John chuckled inwardly at this; _Most wives clean dishes, my wife cleans guns_.

"What happened?" Ashley asked with concern when she saw her husband being supported by her son.

"Nothing Ash, I'm fine" John said, trying to alleviate his wife's worries.

"Dad and I were walking up from the Spectre Offices when he started having trouble breathing." David explained.

"He's overreacting; I'm fine Ash, really." John tried to reassure her.

Ashley's eyes narrowed at her husband's casual dismissal of the matter. "David, take him into the Living Room and sit him down. I'm going to call Dr. Chakwas."

John sighed in exasperation as Ashley vanished back into the kitchen while David compiled with his mother's orders. "I'm _fine_ Ash. Really. There's no need to bother Chakwas with this-"

"I'm calling her John."

"Yes ma'am."

As David gently lowered him onto a comfortable recliner, John couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped his lips when all the weight was taken off his legs. A few seconds later, Ashley entered the living room and knelt next to John. "Chakwas is on her way, she'll be here in a few minutes."

True enough, Chakwas arrived not five minutes later. Well into her eighties, the good doctor had still aged remarkably well and remained healthy throughout the years. "Commander" Chakwas said as she entered the living room with a medkit in hand. Scanning him with her omni-tool, Chakwas tuted and fixed John with a hard stare. "Your leg muscles seem to be degrading at a slow but steady rate, forcing your cybernetics to take over more and more when you walk, like I told you _at your last checkup_." John winced at the angry glares Ash and David sent his way upon hearing this. Chakwas shook her head in disappointment, "Sometimes I wonder if what I say goes in one ear and right back out the other. This time I am _making_ you wear the exo-joints for your legs at _all times_. Not just hidden beneath your pants whenever you have to make a public appearance."

John immediately protested "But how can I get my legs stronger if I have to use the exo-joints all the time?!"

Ashley gave her husband the patented "Williams' Glare". "John, what part of 'degrading' don't you understand? Your legs are getting _weaker_, not stronger."

John sighed in defeat "Fine, fine, I'll wear the exo-joints. Happy?"

Ashley smiled faintly "Very."

Her tone was light, but John saw the sadness in her eyes. She knew just as well as John why this was happening. His cybernetics had begun to fully shut down.

John Shepard was dying.

**A/N: All is not well in the Shepard family. :P**

**I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Maybe combining the first two chapters into one hadn't been such a good idea.**


	2. Night at the Museum

**A/N: God this took longer than I expected. I really hope I can manage more than just one chapter per month; otherwise this will never get done. Granted The Citadel DLC brutally murdering my feels didn't help. (It is AMAZING btw, definitely replaced Lair of the Shadow Broker as my favorite DLC.)**

**For those of you who noticed, yes Nyn is the same Nyn that appeared in Chapters 7 and 9 in "One of those Relationships". **

**Also, regarding my use of measurements, I'll be trying to stick primarily to the metric system, but I will on occasion use foot, inches, or miles.**

**A word of warning, this chapter switches point-of-view fairly often without any breaks. I tried to make the switch as obvious as possible, but if there is any confusion, please let me know.**

**FYI, I made a few minor edits to the last chapter at Xti Attitude's suggestion. Nothing major, just a few little details that make the story flow better. **

2: Night at the Museum

_The 4-year old krogan looked down at the bundle in Alice's arms. She and Garrus had adopted the young krogan a few days ago, and they were finally introducing him to Carn._

"_What's that?" The young krogan asked bluntly._

_Garrus put a hand on Mordin's shoulder; the krogan was about the size of a five-year-old human, small for his age by krogan standards. "That's your new little brother Carn."_

_The krogan child stared blankly at Carn for a moment before turning to Garrus in confusion. "Why does he look weird?" _

_Garrus smiled and knelt down to Mordin's level "He's special, just like you."_

_Mordin frowned "Is that why Clan Leader Wrex is having me stay with you?"_

_Garrus sighed, they had tried to explain to Mordin why Alice and Garrus had adopted him when both his parents were alive and well without making him feel unwanted. The truth of the matter was that, because of his mother's extensive genetic tampering, he'd been born without the strong krogan immune system. The only way he would be able to survive to adulthood is if he got constant extensive medical treatment, treatment that was only available on the Citadel. Wrex couldn't always remain on the Citadel, Bakara had many duties as Councilor, and Wrex feared that some of the clans would challenge his rule if he had a weak little runt for a son. So, he'd asked Alice and Garrus if they'd be willing to raise Mordin in his stead, hoping that, if he was kept out of krogan society, Mordin would be able to grow and flourish without persecution. _

"_Not exactly Mordin," he said "Your mother and father think that, because you're different from other krogan, it would be best if you were raised in a more diverse environment." Garrus didn't need to bother simplifying his words like he would have for most young children; Mordin seemed to have inherited both his parents' intelligence and multiplied it._

_Mordin frowned still "Does he not want me because I'm… weak?" _

Insightful too_, Garrus noted. He immediately shook his head "He _does_ want you Mordin, but he knows that other krogan wouldn't understand you and because of his duties, he can't guide you like me and Alice can." _

_Mordin seemed to consider this. Alice spoke up for the first time "Would you like to hold Carn?"_

_Mordin hesitated for a moment before nodding. With Alice's help, he was soon cradling Carn in his arms. Big blue eyes fluttered open as Carn woke up. The infant hybrid saw who was holding him and seemed to study Mordin for a moment before giving an approving peep and cuddling deeper into his arms, eliciting a small smile from the young krogan. _

…

"So," Carn said as he looked around the table at the other crewmembers of the Hermes, including Mars and Cyan's miniature avatars on the table. "Let me see if I have this right. Your boss wants us to go to the Citadel, the most secure place in the galaxy, and break into the Museum of Galactic History, _during_ the biggest high-profile party of the year. All for a useless piece of _scrap metal_?!"

"Are you going to complain about _every_ job we do?" Nyn said flatly.

"I didn't complain about the last job." Carn countered.

"The last job was transporting supplies to a small mining colony in the middle of nowhere." Cyan stated.

"And you _have_ complained about every other job." Mort pointed out.

Carn glared at the drell. He'd been part of the Hermes' crew only a week and he was already starting to sorely regret it. _Why_ did he let Lil' convince him to stay?

"Carn, this isn't just any old piece of scrap we're after." Lily said "This is a fragment of _Sovereign_ that we're talking about."

"So?" Carn shot back "There are hundreds of fragments of Sovereign and other Reapers floating around out there. What makes this one so special?"

"It is all that's been found of Sovereign's core processor." Cyan explained "For the most part, any data that had once been on it has been wiped clean or corrupted beyond recovery, but it is still immensely valuable."

"But why do we have to steal it during the biggest social event of the year?"

"If you'd let me explain, I was getting to that." Lily said sharply "Mars, Cyan, pull up the map." A holographic replica of the Museum of Galactic History on the Presidium appeared above the table "Recently, a 'generous benefactor' donated the processor to the Council- meaning the Spectres stole it from his private collection. Naturally, since this is Reaper tech we're talking about, they wanted to lock it away in a vault somewhere, but the Museum got on its knees and begged to be allowed to put it on display as part of the Reaper War Exhibit they showcase every year in honor of the 24th anniversary of Victory Day. For the next week, the exhibit will be open to the public. We- and by 'we' I mean Mort- can use that opportunity to scout the place out."

"Why not just nab the processor during the week?" Carn asked.

"It's too well guarded," Cyan stated "The processor will be under constant surveillance and it is surely to be protected by mass effect fields."

Lily nodded "But on Victory Day itself, the Council will be having their annual gala to celebrate the occasion at the Museum. At midnight, the processor will be removed from display and placed in a vault to await transportation in the morning to whatever remote location they hide away all the Reaper crap." She pointed to a small room in a section of the Museum near the back. "During that time, we have a small window of opportunity to strike. Carn, you'll be our lookout, perched on the rooftops opposite the Museum with a sniper rifle."

"Why the _hell_ do I need a sniper rifle?" Carn asked incredulously.

Lily shrugged "Just in case, besides you can look through the scope. Nyn will drive the getaway car while Mort and I sneak into the party, mingle until midnight, grab the processor, and get the hell out of there." She looked around the table "Any questions?"

Slowly, Carn raised his hand.

"Yes Carn?"

"How exactly do you expect to get _into_ the party?"

Lily only smiled.

…

**"**_**Really**_** Lil'?" **

Lily rolled her eyes as her cousin's voice crackled over the com hidden in her ear. "Yes cuz?" she replied softly "Is there a comment you wish to make?"

Carn snorted **"I believe your exact words to the guards outside were: 'Can't you see the sexy expensive dress, the diamond necklace, and gorgeous drell escort/bodyguard on my arm? **_**Of course**_** I was invited!'"**

Lily shared a grin with Mort who had his arm linked in hers and was wearing an extravagant drell tux. "Hey, it _worked_ didn't it?" she said as they moved further inside the Museum.

Laying down on a rooftop opposite the Museum, concealed in black armor and staring through the scope of his sniper rifle, Carn shook his head "God and Spirits, I just thought they'd have better security at this thing." He looked down the scope at the line of people waiting to get inside. He noticed a group of people bypassing the line completely and entering without being stopped. Zooming in on the group, Carn swore when he saw the familiar quarian female and geth platform in the midst of the entourage. "Shit."

"**What's wrong?"** Mort asked in a barely audible whisper.

"I just saw Councilors Raan and Magna arrive."

Lily's curse came through the com **"Son of a bitch! Oh no, I didn't mean you handsome I… wait, where are you going? Come back!"**

Carn cocked a brow-plate "Um… Lil'?"

**"Sorry, Captain's trying to mingle."** Mort explained.

**"**_**Trying**_** being the key word here."** Lily said, sounding grumpy **"I think I just scared away my date for the night. Shame, he was cute."**

**"Captain, now is not the time to be shopping for a new plaything."** Nyn said disapprovingly, speaking over the com for the first time that night.

Back inside the Museum, having just joined back up with Mort after briefly separating, Lily laughed "Nyn, it's _always_ time to shop for a new plaything."

Carn could be heard clearing his throat over the com **"Not that I find this conversation awkward or anything, but can we please get back on track?"**

Lily smirked "Killjoy. Okay, so at least two members of the Council-"

"Three," Mort corrected "I just saw Councilor Bakara."

"Okay, at least _three_ members of the Council are here, probably more, _and_ there's Reaper tech on display, so there _should_ be more security." Lily said "But why isn't there?"

Mort shrugged "There hasn't been a major crisis since the Reaper War, and any threats that do pop up are immediately dealt with by the Spectres. All of Council space is mostly united and at peace. And the Terminus Systems are too busy rebuilding to cause trouble. Maybe they've just gotten complacent."

**"Nice theory"** Carn said **"There's just one problem with it."**

"What?" Lily asked.

**"Miranda Lawson's on the Council, and she'll never get complacent."**

Several floors above them, hiding in the shadows of a balcony overlooking the central room where the processor was displayed, the Last of the Protheans watched the crowd below.

"Javik," A human female wearing a form-fitting white evening gown with long, flowing black hair, and a face considered by many to be the very definition of beauty, untouched by the ravages of time walked up to the prothean and leaned her hip on the balcony railing next to him, nursing a wine glass in one of her white gloved hands. "Fancy meeting you here." She said, her voice flavored by a rich accent.

Javik's eyes briefly flicked to the woman before returning to the crowd below. "Councilor."

Miranda nodded and turned her own gaze down to the party on the first floor, the light from below reflecting off her striking face. "I see Shepard granted my request for Spectre presence." She glanced back at him "Still, I'm surprised you're the one he picked, aren't you supposed to be testing the Agent Raskos."

"Agent Raskos has a special talent for stealth and observation." Javik said "The Commander believed that this would be an excellent opportunity to test that. I am here merely to ensure he does not miss anything."

Miranda acknowledged this "Where is he anyways?" Javik's gaze briefly flickered to the Keeper maintenance catwalks where Miranda could just barely distinguish the shimmer of a stealth field flitting through the shadows. "Ah," she looked back down to the party. "See anyone suspicious?"

Javik pointed "That quarian. He seems incredibly interested in the Reaper processor."

Miranda followed Javik's finger to the quarian male that was trying not to look fascinated in the processor and failing miserably. She allowed a faint smirk to grace her lips. "You don't need to concern yourself with him, he's harmless." She paused for a moment before amending "Mostly."

Javik glanced at her "Really?"

Miranda nodded "Trust me,"

The prothean gave the quarian one last glare before resuming his vigil. The two Normandy veterans remained silent for several more minutes before Javik spoke again "I heard that you would be giving the speech tonight instead of the Commander. He is apparently not well enough to attend."

Miranda nodded, feeling a pang of guilt lance through her at the mention of the Commander's condition. She knew logically, that John's failing health was not her fault; she couldn't help but feel guilty about not being able to find a way to fix, or at the very least replace his cybernetics without killing him. "That reminds me, I had best get ready." She lifted off the railing and giving Javik one last nod turned to leave. The prothean didn't even bother to watch her go.

Down on the first floor, Lily was snagging a cheese kabob from one of the many servers as he passed by. She turned back to Mort "So, you said the processor is in the main room?" she said, casually pulling a cube of cheddar from the stake and popping it into her mouth.

Mort nodded "Yes, and no doubt it's under heavy surveillance. The speech should be in half an hour, after that the processor will… be…" Mort's voice trailed off as Lily popped the rest of the cheese cubes into her mouth at once, stuffing her cheeks.

"Wuh?" Lily asked, talking with her mouth full.

Mort sighed "Captain, we're at a gala, at least _try_ to be formal."

Lily shrugged, swallowing her food. "I'm hungry." She said as she grabbed herself three more kabobs from another passing server. "Besides, it's not like anyone is watching."

"If they were, they certainly aren't now." Mort mumbled under his breath as Lily started chewing on another cheese cube.

Several minutes passed by at a crawl, Mort doing his best to keep an eye out while Lily ate a vast assortment of finger foods and flirted with several dozen guests… at the same time. Finally, the sound of a clinking glass echoed through the room, causing everyone to turn to the source. Councilor Lawson was stand on a slightly raised platform in the main room, waiting for everyone to fall silent.

Once she was sure she had their attention, Miranda smiled "Good evening." She said politely, her rich voice amplified by the small microphone she was wearing. "I welcome you to the 23rd annual Victory Day Gala." She looked around at her audience, noting she had their full attention "On this day 24 years ago, thanks to Commander John Shepard, the most devastating war in history was ended. Sadly, the Commander himself is unable to attend this night due to pressing concerns." Lily cocked an eyebrow when she heard that. "So I will be giving tonight's speech in his stead." Miranda paused for effect "This night, we remember those who lost their lives during the Reaper War, and honor the heroes who sacrificed themselves to give us victory."

Miranda continued on for several minutes, talking about how the galaxy had united to stand against the Reapers, how bonds were formed that had endured the peace. She mentioned the heroic sacrifices of Legion and Mordin, both giving their lives for the future of the geth and krogan respectively. A few cameras hovered around her as she spoke, recording the event. Lily got bored and decided to tune out the remainder of the speech, but thankfully it lasted only a few more minutes. Once the human Councilor stepped down from the platform several guards moved to the processor, floating in a mass effect field and shielded as a precaution. The Reaper processor was only a meter in height, a shard of twisted circuitry and fried wires that had been warped by the destruction of Sovereign. The guards swiftly removed the processor while most of the guests were focused on Miranda, taking it away to the safe where it would be secured until it was transported to a top secret location in the morning.

Lily followed the guards with her eyes, watching until they vanished from sight. She waited for several minutes, mingling to avoid suspicion, and then, when she felt enough time had passed, she got Mort's attention and nodded to where the guards had taken the processor. The party was open to most of the Museum, so nobody noticed when Lily and Mort left the central room. They took the long way to where the safe was. Because it was in a blocked off wing of the Museum, Lily and Mort couldn't approach the safe without being detained, so they settled for a remote view of the door from the end of a long hallway.

"So, now what?" Lily asked Mort, eyeing the guards in front of the safe room. "How do we get in there?"

"There's always Plan B."

"**No."** Carn said sharply **"I am **_**not**_** blowing up the parking lot!"**

"**Don't be a wimp." **Nyn challenged.

"**I'm not! People could get seriously hurt!"** Carn shot back.

"Relax, both of you," Lily said "Plan B is a last resort; we need to be subtle with this." She turned to Mort "Is there any other way into the safe?"

"It wouldn't be 'safe' if there was." Mort stated.

Lily swore "Alright, maybe we can tunnel our way into it."

"**With **_**what**_**?"**

Lily ignored Carn's question "What's above the safe room?"

"16 feet of solid metal."

Lily swore "And below?"

Mort thought for a moment "Three feet of solid metal and a Keeper tunnel."

Lily's eyes lit up "Then that's where we'll tunnel through. Nyn?"

"**Yes Captain?"**

"Take the car to the nearest Keeper tunnel entrance and wait for us there. Mort and I will use our omni-lasers to cut up to the safe and bring the processor to you to make our getaway."

"**Wait, are you telling me that you had a Plan B when you never had a **_**Plan A**_**?"** Carn asked incredulously.

Lily smirked "I like to improvise."

"_**IMPROVISE**_**?!"**

Lily ignored Carn's grumbling and turned to Mort "Do you know where the nearest tunnel entrance is?"

Mort nodded and stood up "Follow me."

The closest tunnel was actually located in a small, dark corner of the Museum that few visited: the volus exhibit. Unfortunately, they weren't alone when they got there. "Scram." Lily snarled at the two asari making out in the corner. Once they were alone, Lily shook her head "Some people have no self-control."

"You're one to talk." Mort grinned.

Lily winked "Hey, I've resisted the urge to fuck _your_ brains out all these years."

Mot rolled his eyes and activated his omni-tool. Sweeping the room with his omni-tool, it wasn't long before he found the tunnel's hidden entrance and opened it "Ladies first."

Lily placed a hand over her heart "My, my, you _are_ a gentleman." she drawled like a southern belle "And they say chivalry is dead!"

She quickly removed her heels and ducked into the dimly-lit tunnel, activating her omni-light. Mort ducked in right after her, closing the entrance behind him. Once they entered the tunnel, they had to shut off their coms, not having any reception within. Keeper tunnels were short and wide, like the Keepers themselves, so they had to hunch over a little.

As they crept down the tunnel, Lily whispered "I'm surprised you found the entrance so quickly."

Mort tapped his temple "Eidetic memory, remember? I used to play in these tunnels with the other duct rats when I was a kid. I know what to look for with a Keeper tunnel." He shrugged "Having a map of the tunnels in this area helps of course."

Lily nodded "Think Nyn will know where to go?"

"The general area yeah, she has a map and I told her where we would probably come out beforehand." Mort smirked at Lily "You may like to 'improvise' Captain, but I prefer having a plan."

Lily cocked an eyebrow at the drell "Are you saying you predicted I would go for the Keeper tunnels?"

"I've worked with you for three years Captain," Mort chuckled "I think I can safely say that I know how you work."

Lily was about to throw back a flirtatious remark when she noticed something in the tunnel up ahead. "Hold up," she whispered, raising her hand "Someone got here before us."

Further down the tunnel, right below where the safe room should be, was a cylinder of solid metal 3 feet tall beneath a hole in the ceiling. Frowning, Lily crept toward the cylinder and with Mort's help, climbed on top of it and up through the hole into the safe room. Looking around the dark room quickly, Lily could barely make out the silhouette of a quarian male kneeling in front of the Reaper processor with his omni-tool active, muttering to himself.

"This doesn't make sense…"

"Um, excuse me?" Lily spoke up suddenly "This is my heist."

The quarian started "_Keelah_! I swear I didn't touch it!"

Lily groaned as the quarian's voice echoed through the safe "I _really_ hope this room is sound-proof." Casually, she reached into her cleavage and pulled out the small compact pistol she had hidden away there. "Now, if you'd be so kind as to step away from the freaky Reaper brain."

The quarian stiffened "No."

Lily cocked an eyebrow "'No'? Buddy, do you have a death wish or are you jus' stupid? `Cause common sense dictates you don't tell the sexy chick with a gun pointed at your head 'no'."

"You're a thief." The quarian said sharply, his back straight. "You're here to steal the processor."

Lily rolled her eyes "Yes Captain Obvious, I take it from that comment that you're not?"

The quarian shook his head, the faint blue glow of his faceplate the only source of light in the dark safe. "I-I wanted to study it, see what I could salvage from its memory banks about… They wouldn't let me, so I snuck in through the Keeper tunnels."

Lily gave him a deadpan look "You broke into the safe room, practically leaving the door _wide open_ for anyone else to come through, all because you wanted to _study it_?"

The quarian winced "M-My research is important! I didn't think anyone would find the processor worth stealing." At Lily's continued deadpan glare, he blurted "I'm not the best at thinking things all the way through okay!"

Lily smiled "I can relate, but that doesn't change the fact that you're between me and my prize, so if you would kindly step aside-"

"No."

Lily's eye was starting to twitch "You're _really_ starting to get on my nerves, you know that? I don't have time to play around here. Mort!"

"Could you give me a hand?" Mort called from the hole, "It's higher than it looks!"

Lily sighed and knelt down next to the hole, looking away from the quarian for a moment yet still keeping her pistol trained on him. "You have _got_ to start going to the gym." She said as she tried to pull the drell up with her free hand.

"Hitting stuff is your specialty Captain," Mort quipped "I'm just here to look pretty."

"I was actually talking about you losing some damn _weight_." Lily said, straining to pull Mort up "Jesus, what are you drell made of, _lead_?" She had just about gotten Mort's head and shoulders clear of the hole when she looked back and saw the quarian had activated his omni-tool and was scanning the processor again. "Hey! Get away from there!"

She released Mort, who fell back down the hole with an "Ack! Captain!" and got to her feet, training her pistol on the back of the quarian's head.

The quarian shrugged "Relax, I'm just finishing up my scans." The quarian deactivated his omni-tool and stepped aside "There, all yours."

Lily, needless to say, was a tad bit suspicious of the quarian's sudden change of heart. "Alright, what's the catch?"

She could see the quarian's glowing eyes widen behind his sapphire mask "W-What do you mean?"

"You really expect me to believe after you were so adamantly protecting the processor that you all of a sudden changed your mind?" Lily asked incredulously "How stupid do you think I am?"

"Um… very?" the quarian said hopefully.

Lily glared at him "Very funny, now tell me what's wrong with it." When the quarian hesitated for a moment, Lily made a threatening motion with her gun "I'm not exactly the most patient person you know."

"It's a fake." The quarian said "A very good fake, but a fake."

Lily cocked an eyebrow skeptically "And you know this how?"

The quarian shrugged "Let's just say that I know a Reaper relic when I see one, and that the museum experts aren't as good as they like to think they are."

Lily, considered this for a moment. True, this quarian could be lying but she doubted it, and if he was right, then she'd just wasted a lot of time and effort for nothing, and would have to tell her boss that she'd failed. _That_ was something she did not relish doing. Suddenly an idea popped into her head and Lily lowered her gun. "Well, I guess there's not much point in me sticking around then."

The quarian blinked "Huh?"

Lily shrugged "It's a fake, why would I want that?" She gave the quarian a knowing look "Provided of course you're right."

She fought the urge to smirk when she noticed the quarian bristle "I am!"

"You sure about that? You don't seem like a Reaper expert to me." Lily taunted "In fact, I bet you're just guessing. You couldn't find a Reaper relic even if you had flashing neon signs pointing the way!"

The quarian growled "You don't know anything! I've been studying the Reapers my entire life! I even made a program that could detect Reaper signatures even when deactivated! I-" the quarian froze, suddenly aware of what he'd let slip "I… probably shouldn't have said that."

Lily's grin would have made the Cheshire Cat proud. "Nope."

…

Carn returned to the small hanger in the wards where the Hermes was docked on foot. Once the boarding ramp had lowered, Carn found Lily, Nyn, and Mort already there, in the midst of a heated argument. Taking off his helmet Carn frowned at his crewmates "What's going on?"

Lily's eyes brightened when she saw Carn, running over to him and slinging an arm around his shoulders. "Carny, cuz, buddy!" she turned to glare at Nyn and Mort "Tell _these two_ that I would _never_ do something without considering the consequences!"

Carn gave Lily a puzzled look "What are you talking about? You always do things without considering the consequences."

"Ha!" Nyn barked, smirking triumphantly.

Lily glared at Carn and removed her arm from his shoulders "Traitor," she accused.

"I don't even know what's going on!" Carn said helplessly.

"Your cousin kidnapped a quarian from the gala." Nyn said flatly.

Carn blinked at Nyn, speechless "Huh?"

Lily sighed and started to explain how she and Mort had snuck into the safe room to discover that a young quarian male was already there examining the processor, how she found out it was a fake, and how she'd tricked the quarian into letting slip he could find the real one. "So naturally, I decided to take him with us. He was… less than pleased by the prospect."

"He tried to burn you alive with an Incinerate and sic'd a combat drone on you before you knocked him out." Mort said lightly "I think he was a bit more than 'less than pleased'."

"Do we know who he is?" Carn asked.

Lily shrugged "Does it matter?"

"_Yes_!" Nyn and Mort said simultaneously.

"He could be Councilor Raan's _grandson_ for goddess's sake!" Nyn said angrily.

"Where is he?" Carn asked.

Lily gestured with her hand towards one of cargo holds walls "I stuffed him in one of the hidden compartments."

Carn nodded "I'd like to at the very least speak with him."

Meanwhile, the quarian had regained consciousness and was silently cursing himself in the dark, cramp compartment. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

[I told you this was a bad idea]

_Stow it, Dex._ He bitterly told the geth in his suit through their neural link. _Is there any way you can contact the rest of the geth? Maybe tell someone what happened?_

[No, the ship's AI detected the signal I sent out and is currently blocking any attempts at communication. While it appears that they are unaware of my presence, I cannot bypass their firewalls.] There was a pause as the quarian no doubt figured the geth was calculating something. [It is odd.]

_What do you mean?_

[The ship's AI appears to have a split personality.]

_Really?_

[Well, either that or this ship has two AIs, but what would be the point of that?]

Before the quarian could answer, the door to the compartment opened, temporarily blinding him as light streamed in. Squinting, the quarian's eyes widened beneath his faceplate at the sight of the familiar human/turian hybrid looking in. "Carn?"

Shock shown clearly on the hybrid's face "_Kal_?"

"You know him?" the human female standing behind the hybrid asked. The quarian's eyebrows rose, he hadn't been able to see her clearly in the dark safe room but now… _Is that…_

The hybrid turned to the female; his expression bewildered "Lily, its _Kal_." When she continued to give him a confused look he elaborated "You know? Kal'Zorah?"

Realization and horror dawned on Lily's face.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

**A/N: Let me guess, everyone saw that coming? **

**I'm planning to have every single surviving squad member show up at least once before the end of the story and they'll all get their own little segment in the Epilogue -provided of course they've survived that long ;)**

**Remember I need feedback to make this story successful, especially on Lily, Carn, my other OCs, and the dialog.**

**Hopefully I'll be posting again sometime before another month has passed!**


	3. The Hunt is On!

**A/N: One of these days I'll get around to posting more than one chapter in a single month. The starting flashback is based on a comic by greenmamba5 over on deviantart. I'm going to try posting the link (please work please work please work) greenmamba5 . deviantart art / Wake – up – 321886859 ? q = gallery %3 A greenmamba5 % 2F41350647 & qo = 27 **

**Remember to take out the spaces.**

3: The Hunt is On!

"_Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" Garrus groaned as he was dragged kicking and screaming from his sleep by his son's voice peeping in his ear "Daddy wake up! Daddy it's morning!"_

"Whaaatttt_...?" Garrus grumbled._

"_Daddy I'm _hungewy_!" Carn whined._

_Garrus opened his eyes enough to check the clock on the nightstand. _

_5:04 am. _

_He groaned and covered his head with the pillow "Go back to sleep Carn… it's too early for Daddy to get up." _

_There was a brief pause before he heard the pitter patter of little feet leaving the bedroom. Breathing a sigh of relief, Garrus slowly drifted back down into the blissful realm of sleep. Alice and Mordin had left the previous day on a trip to Sur'kesh for a convention on the latest medical advances Mordin had desperately wanted to go to. Garrus had just returned from an exhausting mission and therefore, Alice had offered to take Carn with them. Garrus however, had insisted that this would be a wonderful time for he and Carn to bond. _

CRASH!

_Garrus' eyes shot open at the loud noise. _Intruders!_ He sprang from the bed and pulled his emergency pistol from the nightstand drawer, the safety flicking off as the gun registered his biometric signature. He rushed to the apartment's kitchen, the source of the disturbance. _Got to make sure they don't get to Carn._ He burst into the room, gun raised to meet any intruders head on-_

_-and found Carn standing on a stool, wearing a pot on his head like a helmet, trying to lift a pan onto the stove. _

_Garrus gaped at the ridiculous scene before him "_What the_- Carn, _what_ are you doing?"_

_Carn turned his head to his father, smiling broadly as he squeaked "I'm making bweakfast!"_

_Garrus just stared at his son in disbelief "You have a pot on your head…"_

"'_Cause I'm making bweakfast!" Carn said like it was the most obvious thing in the world; Garrus could practically hear him ask: _How do you not know this?

_Garrus sighed, normally he would have found Carn's antics unbelievably cute, but right now he was too tired to appreciate it. Putting the pistol somewhere out of Carn's reach, Garrus lifted his son off the stool, removing the pot from his head, and got to work preparing breakfast, mumbling to himself all the while. "'Go have fun' I said. 'I can handle Carn' I said. 'It'll give us a chance to bond' I said…"_

_Not five seconds later, the impatient little devil was tugging on his father's pant leg "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy I'm _hungewy_! Daddy? Daddy?"_

…

You mean to tell me that you _never_ realized it was Kal?" Carn said angrily.

"It's been 6 years, it was dark, and he's a quarian! You can never tell them apart in those suits!" Lily defended.

Kal watched the cousins go back and forth with confusion. _What in Rannoch's name are they doing working as thieves? I never would have thought that they… well, Lily maybe, but never Carn!_

[He did follow her around like a lost puppy when they were kids] Dex pointed out.

_I know, but still…_

He was jarred from his musings when the drell spoke up "Let me get this straight, not only did we kidnap a quarian during an important social event, but that quarian in Tali'Zorah's _son_?!"

"Pretty much," Carn grumbled.

"This is bad, this is _really _bad!" the drell started pacing "If they find out that we're the ones who kidnapped Admiral Zorah's son, Spectres will be the _least_ they send after us!"

"If I might make a suggestion," Kal spoke up, crawling out of the smuggling compartment "I can send Aunt Raan a message about how the processor is a fake and that you're helping me retrieve the real one." He paused "On one condition."

Lily arched an eyebrow "Which is…?"

You give me the real processor to return to the Citadel once we have it."

Lily's expression hardened, saying "No deal" at the exact same time Carn said "Deal."

Lily glared at her cousin "I'm the Captain of this ship and I say _no_."

Carn returned her glare with one of his own "This is _Reaper tech_ Lily; it shouldn't be out roaming around in the black market."

"So we should just let them lock it away in some remote space station to gather dust when it could be _studied_?"

"Yes," Carn said "You of all people should know how horrible the Reapers were."

Lily snorted. "'Me of all people'. You mean _my dad_ of all people. Not once did he ever stop talking about them. 'Reaper this, Reaper that, blah, blah, blah'!"

"Damnit Lil'! You _know_ that-"

"Enough!" Lily snapped "I'm you Captain and you will treat me as such, cousins or no!"

Kal winced and turned to look a t Carn. He was trembling with barely contained rage, but made no move to continue his protest. Lily took a deep breath to calm herself and her expression softened "I'm sorry Carn, I shouldn't have snapped at you but I _am_ Captain, and while I appreciate your feedback, when I make a decision it is _final_." When Carn continued to glare at her, Lily approached him and held up her hand "Hey," she said softly "No Shepard…"

Carn hesitated before clasping his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers "…Without Vakarian." He finished.

Lily smiled at Carn before looking at Kal, her expression hard "Seeing as you're not exactly a guest, I should probably keep you locked up in that smuggling compartment. However, seeing as I'm feeling generous, I'll let you out once we're clear of the Citadel. Just keep in mind that engineering and other key systems are off limits and that you're constantly being watched. You so much as _twitch_ funny and I'll throw you back in there. Capiche?"

Kal nodded; best to just play along for now. Satisfied, Lily turned back to the two other crew members. "Alright, we best buzz off before someone comes looking for us."

The asari spoke up "I hope you don't mind me asking but seeing as I'm the pilot, I kind of need to know where we're _going_."

Lily thought for a moment "We need to know where they got the processor from in the first place, and then retrace its path from there. Head to Bekenstein, it's time we paid a visit to an old friend."

…

Garrus took a deep breath of the fresh (recycled) air as he stepped out of the spaceport elevator onto the Presidium. He'd spent the last four months on an assignment and was glad to finally be back home. He hadn't been able to get any messages where he was, so he was eager to learn how Carn's C-Sec training was going. Shouldering his duffle, Garrus made his way to the nearest Rapid Transit station. He decided that he would first head over to see John before dropping by his own apartment. Alice would probably still be at work managing Liara's Shadow Broker network, so he'd have plenty of time to set up a nice little surprise for her when she got home. He took the cab to the Spectre headquarters and made his way through its halls to John's office. He nodded to John's secretary as he passed, having already been given permission to enter the office whenever he wanted, provided John wasn't in a meeting.

The doors opened and Garrus flung his arms wide, his mandibles fluttering in a broad grin "Surprise!"

John was at his desk, typing away at some report to the Council no doubt when Garrus entered. Looking up, Garrus' brother-in-law's eyes widened when he saw the turian "Garrus? When the hell did you get back?"

The turian shrugged, dropping his duffle on the floor and taking a seat in the chair across the desk from John "Just now, I thought I'd surprise you guys since I've been gone so long."

John nodded "So how'd it go?"

"Alright, you'll be happy to hear that those krogan terrorists won't be a problem anymore." Garrus said casually "Although their leader was a bitch to hunt down."

"Did you find him?" John asked.

Garrus grinned "Please John, it's _me_ we're talking about." His expression grew serious "You were right."

John cocked an eyebrow "About what?"

"The leader told me who hired them." Garrus paused "It was Katoc Prax."

John sighed, "Damnit, I was afraid of that. Wrex has enough trouble controlling the clans as it is, he doesn't need his enemies resorting to terrorism to get what they want."

"As long as Wrex has our support, Katoc and its allies won't dare try anything." Garrus reassured him.

John nodded, though he didn't seem convinced. Deciding to change the topic, Garrus casually asked "So, how's Carn? Wait, let me guess, he's top of his class right?"

John gave him a look of surprise "You mean Alice didn't tell you?"

Garrus frowned "John, I've been out of contact for four months, and I didn't call ahead because I wanted to surprise her when I got back. So no, she didn't."

John sighed "I see…" he rubbed the bridge of his nose "Carn dropped out of C-Sec over a week ago."

Garrus instantly straightened up, alert. "_What_?"

"Bailey said he was frustrated with the courses." John explained "I don't know all the details but they talked and agreed that C-Sec wasn't the place for him."

Garrus slumped, fighting down the sting of disappointment that was threatening to well up within him "I guess I should have expected that. Where is he now?"

John grimaced "That's where things get complicated."

Garrus' brow-plates furrowed "What do you mean? He didn't become a vigilante on Omega did he?"

John shook his head, "Worse, he's with Lily."

Garrus' eyes widened "What?! Are you sure?"

John nodded "One of our informants saw them together at Illium's spaceport, and another saw them a few days ago delivering supplies to a mining colony."

_Delivering supplies?_ Garrus relaxed, so Lily and Carn weren't doing anything stupid. John however, still seemed troubled by this. "What's wrong?"

John hesitated "Both informants said that Carn wasn't wearing his colony paint."

Garrus froze, an unbearably painful ache clenching at his heart. _What? But… No it can't be true. Why would he…? Does he think I… Oh Spirits…_ Finally he put his head in his hands "Damnit…" his voice trembled "_Damnit_…"

He was surprised when he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. Raising his head, Garrus saw that John had gotten to his feet and leaned across the table to rest his hand on Garrus' shoulder, his expression sympathetic. John may not know exactly how bad it was in turian culture to willingly remove your colony paint, but he understood what it felt like to have your own child reject you.

Garrus flashed him a weak smile "Thanks." He took a deep breath to calm himself "Maybe your informants were wrong. I mean, from a distance, Carn looks a lot like a regular turian."

John nodded "I hope that's the case, because if he's with Lily…" his expression was grim "He could be charged as her accomplice."

Garrus' eyes narrowed, his moment of vulnerability gone and replaced with cold fury. Growling he said "_What did Lily do_?"

…

**5 hours earlier**

Javik knelt in the safe room that the Reaper processor had been stored in the previous night; the _fake_ Reaper processor. Javik examined the crime scene intently; when he, Raskos, and the guards came to retrieve the processor they had found a hole cut through the floor to the Keeper tunnels below with an omni-laser. Javik's first thought had been to examine the processor. Upon close inspection, he immediately determined that the processor was a fake. While he had sent the guards to fetch Councilor Lawson, Javik had carefully reexamined the room, though he was careful not to touch anything just yet, waiting until the Councilor arrived to examine things through his Touch.

Javik knelt next to the hole. "Thoughts?" Javik asked Raskos, giving the raloi the chance to demonstrate how skilled he was in the art of deduction. He _was_ supposed to be evaluating him over the next few missions after all.

Raskos clicked his beak, a sign that the raloi was thinking. Finally, he chirped up "It _could_ be that the thieves replaced the processor with a fake, but then why would they leave such clear evidence of a break-in? Of course they could have tried to seal it back up but were either unable to or interrupted. It would have been simpler if they didn't even bother to bring a fake." Javik could hear Raskos clicking again and forced himself to be patient. "Unless… Unless they broke in intending to steal it, but the processor was a fake the _whole time_. Somehow, they must have realized this and left."

Javik nodded, he'd had come to the same conclusion. They waited for Councilor Lawson for several more minutes. By the time she joined them, Javik was wondering if something else was wrong; it was unlike Miranda to be so late. When she finally entered the safe room, Javik noted that she looked more than a little irritated.

"Sorry I took so long," Miranda apologized briskly "Councilor Raan is five seconds from having a heart attack."

Javik frowned "Something has her worried?"

Miranda nodded "Yes. You remember Tali's son Kal? He went missing during the party last night. She's been tearing the Citadel apart trying to find him."

"Do you need help?" Raskos asked.

Miranda waved him off "We have more pressing concerns. I'm sure he just got lost in the tunnels looking for the Catalyst again."

Javik did the Prothean equivalent of cocking an eyebrow "'Again'?"

"Don't concern yourself with it." Miranda said casually "Nobody has been able to find the Catalyst since the end of the Reaper War. It's probably deactivated itself by now."

Javik reluctantly let the matter be. Kneeling down, Javik pressed his hand to the metal floor and activated his Touch. As the information flowed through him, Javik watched the events from the previous night unfold. When he was finished Javik frowned and turned to Miranda "You said that Kal'Zorah had gone missing?"

Miranda groaned closed her eyes, rubbing her temples "Please don't tell me that _he's_ the one who broke in here."

Javik nodded "He was, however it appears he did come here to steal the processor. Five minutes after he arrived, a human female climbed through the hole with the aid of a drell male. She and Kal'Zorah conversed, then struggled with the female rendering him unconscious. . She then carried the quarian back through the hole and left with the drell."

Miranda fixed Javik with a hard glare "Are you telling me that the thieves _also_ kidnapped Kal'Zorah?"

Javik shook his head "No, the processor was never touched."

Miranda froze as the implication of what he was saying sank in "So it was a fake all along."

"A very good fake" Raskos added "But why would they kidnap Kal? Are they holding him for ransom?"

Miranda shook her head "No, Kal has an almost unhealthy obsession with the Reapers. Tali told me he's even developed a program to track Reaper artifacts. He probably let that slip and they took him to find the real processor."

"It seems our problems have intertwined" Javik noted. "There is one other thing."

Miranda frowned "What?"

"The human female was Lily Shepard."

Miranda sighed heavily "That makes things _much_ more complicated."

…

Lily casually activated the Hermes' com system in her quarters, the glass case she kept her model ships in darkened as the connection was established (yes, it was not lost on her that she collected model ships like her dad). The visage of a turian male appeared, his silhouette in stark contrast to the backdrop of the plain white room. Half of the ebony plates on his face were cracked, showing the telltale red glow of cybernetics underneath; one of his eyes was even red.

"Captain." The flanging that underlined all turians' voices was different in this one, especially when compared to her Uncle Garrus. While Garrus' voice was threaded with a deep, soothing rumble, this turian's voice was burned by a sharp, grating growl.

Lily cracked a smile "Hey there Darth Vader. Wazzup?"

The turian's expression remained stoic "I take it from your casual façade that you've failed to retrieve the processor."

Lily's grin faltered. _Damn it, how does he do that?_ "Yes sir, it was a fake. But don't worry, we're on our way to retrieve the real one right now."

The turian scoffed "Naturally." Lily resisted the urge to wince. The representative for her employer, lily had had numerous dealings with the turian Kronov before, and had firmly decided that she did _not_ like him. Kronov looked down at the holo-pad in his cybernetic hand before looking back up at Lily. "I notice you have made an addition to the crew. One Carn Vakarian." Kronov's mandibles twitched into a harsh sneer. "You're cousin I presume?"

Lily averted her eyes from the turian's sharp gaze "Yes."

"And _what_, might I ask, led you to believe that he was exempt from the rules that apply to all new crew members?" When Lily didn't reply Kronov continued "Your silence speaks for itself. When you deliver the processor bring your cousin with you. I will evaluate his trustworthiness then." Having dispensed his orders, Kronov cut the communication.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief, dealing with Kronov always made her feel like she was being interrogated. She headed over to the door to her cabin, intending to get a quick snack before going to bed. When the doors opened however, Carn was standing on the other side, hand raised as if to knock.

Awkwardly, Carn lowered his hand and cleared his throat. "May… May I come in?" Lily nodded, stepping aside to let Carn pass. He looked around the comfortable room, "This is twice the size of my cabin."

Lily shrugged "What can I say? Being Captain has its perks."

Carn nodded, fidgeting nervously "I… um… I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier, I was… wrong to challenge you like that, especially in front of the others."

Lily rolled her eyes "It's been what, five hours Carn? It's fine, don't worry abou' it."

Carn shook his head "No, you're my superior, I shouldn't have-"

"Carn" Lily said, fixing with a hard glare "It's _fine_." She glanced at the clock on her bed's nightstand "It's late, shouldn't you be asleep?"

Carn shook his head "Couldn't."

Lily's gaze softened "Nightmares?"

Carn shrugged "It's fine, really. I'm used to them; it's more all that's been going on recently with Kal and Reaper brains and all that." He focused his eyes back on Lily "Do you ever… you know, dream about…?" the unfinished sentence hung in the air, looming above them.

Lily felt a sharp pang of guilt in her chest and looked down "Not really anymore, but yeah, sometimes." She looked up "Is that what your nightmare was about?"

Carn shook his head, sitting down on her bed, his eyes glazed over. "No, it was this dream I've been having for almost as long as I can remember. In it, I'm surrounded by a thick fog- or maybe it's smoke, I'm not sure. I can't see anything, little embers are falling all around me and in the distance I can hear this faint sobbing. I try to find the source, but never can. Recently though, the sobbing's been getting louder, but still _just_ out of reach." He shuddered "I don't know why, but something about that dream terrifies me."

Lily frowned; that sounded hardly like a normal dream, but she didn't press further, deciding to let the matter rest for now. _Once we get the processor, I'm taking him to see Ophelia. Maybe that old bat can help him._ She sat down next to him on the bed, wrapping her arm around him. "Hey," she flashed him a warm smile once she had his attention "If you ever have trouble sleeping, come find me, I'll be more than happy to talk."

Carn smiled back at her "Thanks Lil'… I'd like that."

The comfortable silence that followed was broken by a certain gruff asari's voice "Blegh."

Lily turned in outrage to Nyn standing in the doorway, having just returned from the mess hall with a cup of asari tea. "If you two are gonna start getting all incestuous, at least shut the door. Some of us find that king of thing disgusting."

Lily facepalmed at Nyn's comment while Carn's expression became one of complete and utter horror "Y-You think that… that m-me and Lil'… Oh God!" Carn clamped a hand over his mouth and burst up from the bed, bolting to Lily's private bathroom.

Lily got up and dragged Nyn back out the door, closing it behind them. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the pilot "I hope you're happy."

A smug little grin danced across Nyn's lips "Oh I am, believe me." From the bathroom, a loud retching could be heard coming from the bathroom as Carn regurgitated his stomach. Nyn cocked an eyebrow at the noise "Talk about rejection."

"Ha, ha" Lily said dryly "You know, you could at least _try_ to be nice to him."

Nyn shook her head with a heavy sigh "Look Captain, he doesn't belong here. I'm sure Carn's a nice guy and all, but that's exactly the problem, _he's a nice guy_. Nice guys don't go far in this business, in fact, nice guys usually get killed. Or worse. "

Lily's eyes narrowed "Is there any point to this Nyn?"

"He shouldn't be on this ship." Nyn said sharply "You saw how he challenged you today. He needs to be flexible, to be willing to do things he doesn't agree with. He can't, so he needs to go."

Lily glared back at Nyn unflinchingly "That's not for you or me to decide, Kronov will determine if he can stay or not."

Nyn snarled "Are you out of your fucking mind Lily?! Kronov will _destroy_ Carn if he 'reviews' him. You have to get him out while you still can!"

"It's too late Nyn," Lily replied, "Kronov already knows about Carn; even if I wanted to I couldn't let him go until Kronov deems him trustworthy."

Nyn and Lily faced off for several more seconds before Nyn shook her head "I hope you know what you're doing Captain." She turned and opened the door to her own quarters, right across from Lily's own and entered, locking the door behind her.

…

The trip to Bekenstein from the Citadel took approximately 15 hours. Kal spent that time walking around the ship, studying the layout as best he could. All the rooms vital to the ship like engineering or the armory were locked, along with the personnel quarters, but the rest of the ship was open to him. The first thing he did was check up on Dex to make sure his captors were still unaware of the geth in his suit.

[I believe so] Dex said [I've remained silent after my initial attempt to contact the Collective. It is likely that the AIs believe the attempt was an automated signal.]

_Well that's something_, Kal thought, relieved. _At least we have a surprise up our sleeves._

Kal wound up spending a great deal of time in the lounge on the second deck, fooling around with everything that caught his fancy; the bar, the holo-table with dozens of games installed, the large vid-screen against the wall, he even found a supply of emergency induction ports. He might be kidnapped and forced against his will to help a bunch of thieves (and Carn) find and steal a Reaper processor but that didn't mean he was going to just sit around being bored.

Kal had just discovered the vibrate on the recliner and was currently leaning back in the chair with his eyes closed, thoroughly enjoying the experience when the door opened and Lily stepped in. "Cyan told me you've been fooling around in the lounge for the last three hours and wanted me to make sure you weren't…" Lily's voice trailed off when she noticed the quarian hadn't even registered her presence, too busy enjoying the vibrating chair. "…up to something." Lily frowned and walked over to Kal, snapping her fingers in front of his faceplate "'Ey Zorah!"

Kal blinked his eyes open and saw Lily looming over him. "_Oh heeeyyy Liiilllyyy!_" Kal said casually, his voice vibrating with the recliner. "_Waaazzzzuuup?_"

Lily cocked an eyebrow "Enjoying yourself?"

"_Yeeeeessss_." Kal said contently.

Lily's eyes narrowed and then, to Kal's disappointment, turned the vibration off. "Alright, what are you up to? Why aren't you trying to get a message out, or escape, or something?"

"Why would I need to?" Kal said, sitting up "Undoubtedly there're already people looking for me _and _the processor. I don't _need_ to do anything; I'll probably be rescued in a week's time, you'll be arrested, and I'll get an earful from Auntie Raan." He shrugged "Might as well enjoy myself while I can." Lily cocked an eyebrow and Kal got the uneasy feeling that she didn't _quite_ believe his casual attitude. Deciding to change the topic, Kal noticed Lily had two pistols on her hip in old-fashioned holsters. "What model are those pistols? I've never seen a gun like them before."

Lily looked down at the guns and unholstered the one on her right hip "Oh these? They're custom-made; I built them about four years ago." She held the pistol tenderly, like it was the most valuable thing in the world. "This little guy here is called Clint."

Kal leaned forward, examining the gun. It was oddly shaped; the handle wasn't blocky like most modern weapons, seeming to flow from the barrel. The handle appeared to be made of some kind of wood, (although Kal doubted it) while the remainder of the gun was constructed from a dark metal that gave off a faint silvery sheen. It had a hair trigger, a small ring the only guard. In front of the trigger there was a large chamber that looked like it could be spun. The barrel was long and large, somewhat thick, yet sleek. There was a long scope on top, and a small, v-shaped barrel extension on the muzzle, the standard flashlight located below it.

"You made this?" Kal asked, impressed. Gunsmithing was an incredibly complex process these days. The fact that Lily had the time and patience, not even mentioning the knowledge to build not one, but _two_ pistols was impressive.

Lily smiled a little, "Well, I had help from a friend of mine." She flicked the chamber out, revealing six holes each containing a heat sink. "It's based off of a revolver. He can fire fifteen shots on each sink, and once the current one is spent it rotates to the next one. I don't need to switch out clips until they're all used up, and by then the bad guys are usually dead." Her voice was brimming with pride. She holstered Clint and took out the other pistol.

This one was different from its counterpart. The pistol's handle and trigger were similar, but the pistol was made with a duller, dark gray metal. The barrel was just as long as the first pistol's and twice as large, reminding Kal of a club. The second pistol lacked a scope, and was certainly heavier than Clint judging by the way Lily held it.

"This big boy is Chuck. He can fire only six shots per sink, but he packs one hell of a punch. One shot is all it takes to bring down your shields, and before you can take cover, _BAM_! You got a hole between your eyes." Lily was clearly proud of her creation.

"Impressive," Kal said as Lily holstered her other gun. "Why were you carrying them around on the ship? Expecting trouble?"

"Nah, just getting some target practice down in the cargo hold." Lily turned to leave, "You should get some sleep, we'll be at Bekenstein in a few hours."

Kal didn't bother keeping the surprised tone out of his voice "A pirate caring about her prisoner? I'm shocked."

Lily snorted and looked back at him "I'm a smuggler and occasional thief, not a pirate."

"There's a difference?"

"Yes," Lily said sharply.

He and Lily merely stared at each other for several moments, studying one another's eyes. Finally, when Kal opened his mouth to speak, Lily cut him off. "You better not be about to give me some shitty 'return to the Light Side' speech."

Kal blinked "I was actually going to ask if you had any dextro food aboard."

"Oh," Lily said sheepishly "Yeah, Carn eats a mixed diet of levo and dextro so we should have some lying around."

Kal nodded "Thanks."

The silence stretched on once more. After a long moment, Lily spoke up "So… um… goodnight… I guess…" with that she turned and left the lounge.

Kal didn't bother to respond.

…

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Bekenstein?" Nyn said dryly as she brought the Hermes out of orbit and into the planet's atmosphere.

Carn gave her a look of confusion "No."

"I wasn't talking to you." The asari pilot snapped.

"Nyn, be nice." Lily chastised from the Captain's chair. She turned to where Mort was standing next to her. "Did we get in contact?"

Cyan's avatar popped up "Yes, I have arranged for you and Mort to meet with her at the safehouse."

"Meet with who?" Kal asked from the back of the cockpit.

Lily swiveled in her chair to address the quarian "An old friend of ours. With any luck, she'll be able to point us in the right direction."

Nyn guided the Hermes down toward one of the larger cities, bringing the ship to dock in a small, inconspicuous spaceport, with just enough through traffic for them to go unnoticed. Lily and Mort departed the ship through the airlock, making their way over to the meeting location. The safehouse was a small, unassuming apartment in one of the city's many complexes. After a long walk through dingy streets and up crumbling stairs, they arrived at a plain door with an apartment number marked on it.

After checking to see if anyone was around, Lily knocked on the door. There was a long pause before the door finally opened revealing nothing but darkness. Without hesitation, Lily and Mort stepped through. The apartment was small, consisting of only one room with some chairs, a table, and a bed. It was lit only by the lines of light streaming through the shutters. A lone figure was leaning against the wall, twinkling eyes concealed beneath a hood.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here."

Lily grinned at the light, playful voice "Hey Kas'."

One of the twinkling lights beneath her hood vanished for a moment as Kasumi Goto winked "Hey there Lil'. I see your still hanging around with that sexy drell I found you."

Mort smiled "It's good to see you again Kasumi."

The petite thief smiled "So, what can I do for you?"

"I'm looking for the Reaper processor you stole for my dad." Lily said.

"Oh?" Kasumi pushed herself off the wall, moving forward "And why do you want it?"

"I assume by now you've heard that the one you gave the Spectres was a fake." Mort asked, stepping forward.

Kasumi pouted, cupping her chin "Yeah, not my best job, I'll admit."

"We need to know where you found it." Lily said.

Kasumi shot Lily a curious look from beneath her hood "Why's that?"

"It's a job." Lily said briskly.

Kasumi studied her for a moment before shrugging "Well, far be it from me to keep a fellow honest criminal from making a living." She activated her omni-tool "There's a millionaire on Elysium named Charles Bones. He's a collector of rare and exotic antiquities. As I'm sure you're aware, it is illegal to be in possession of Reaper artifacts without a permit. We got a tip that he might have one so your dad sent me in to… _liberate_ it." She smiled mischievously. "It wasn't the easiest job, but I managed to lug the processor out of there before he was none the wiser. I probably should have checked to see if it was a decoy but I was in a hurry."

"Do you think he has the real one?" Lily asked.

Kasumi grinned "Using decoys to fool thieves is hardly a new practice. I've wound up with my fair share of fakes, it's annoying, but most clients don't know the difference." She tapped a few times on her omni-tool "Here, I'll give you the layout of the mansion and a list of likely locations where the real processor might be hidden."

Lily smiled thankfully as her omni-tool pinged to signal she'd received the data. "Thanks Kas'."

The petite Japanese thief winked. "Don't thank me yet, I already gave all this info to the Spectres. You better hurry if you want to get the processor before they do."

**A/N: For reference, here're the images that served as my inspiration for Lily's guns:**

** fc05 . deviantart fs70 / f / 2012 / 215 / 1 / f / sci_ fi _ revolver _ by _ bring me a sunkist - d593a3g . jpg**

** 4 . bp . blogspot _ snIFN3 Tdk5U / TC mz MKVUNRI / AAAAAAAAAPI / 6Nx5QoMveCU / s1600 / revolver _ side . jpg**

** i794 . photobucket albums / yy224 / Ryoku 67 / my weapon 18 . jpg**

** farm5 . static . flickr 4003 / 43897 73143 _ 3f37 44272a . jpg**


	4. Reaper Brains!

**A/N: Finally, some action this chapter! **

4: Reaper Brains!

"_Okay, everything you need is in here." Alice said, carrying a gigantic sack filled to the brim with supplies. "Chakwas is staying nearby if you need help. Don't hesitate to call if something's wrong, we'll be back at a moment's notice." John was pretty sure the entire Citadel shook when his sister dropped the sack in front of him. "Make sure to call us at night before they go to bed. And don't forget to give Mordin his meds in the mornings and evenings. Oh, and-"_

_John rolled his eyes as Alice kept prattling on, telling him to not swear around the children, keep them away from sharp objects, to not let Carn watch any of those violent shows Lily and Mordin like, blah, blah, blah. "Relax Alice." He said when Alice was starting to lecture him on proper nutrition. "I am a parent too you know."_

_Alice shook her head "Maybe, but I don't want Carn ending up like-"_

"_Yeeeeehaaaawwww!" Lily cried as she went charging past on Urz._

"…_Like that." Alice finished lamely._

_John sighed "It's only for two weeks Alice, we'll be fine."_

"_Just in case, I've compiled a few notes for you." At that moment, Garrus came up to them, carrying a stack of datapads._

_John cocked an eyebrow "That's a bit more than 'a few' Garrus."_

_His brother-in-law just ignored him, giving John the datapads one by one, listing off what was on them as he did. "Here's a list of foods Mordin can and can't eat, and for your convenience I've compiled a schedule of how many calories of dextro and levo food Carn should eat each meal. And here are instructions on how to give him a bath. He should be molting soon so you'll have to scrub extra hard. Oh, and he likes to cuddle while he's drying off. Don't question it, he'll usually fall asleep then so that'll make your job easier. Mordin can clean himself, but make sure he takes these pills afterwards. Be warned, you may have to force them down his throat, he hates taking them. Here's a list of programs you can distract Carn and Mordin with when you have to work, just stay nearby in case something happens. These are instructions on how to administer Mordin's inhaler and epi-pen; keep them on you at all times. This one has notes on Carn's anatomy; if he gets hurt, this will tell you how to stop the bleeding. With Mordin, if he gets hurt, be sure to disinfect thoroughly before you slap a bandage on it. And this right here will-"_

_John sighed, sure it was nice that Garrus had taken the time to write everything down for him, but he was getting sick of being treated like a first time babysitter. "Garrus stop; I am perfectly capable of watching your children as well as my own." He put the stack of datapads on a nearby table and started pushing the couple towards the door. "This is supposed to be your honeymoon. Relax, have fun, enjoy yourselves, make passionate love for days on end, whatever! Stop worrying so much, Carn and Mordin will be fine."_

"_But you still have work." Alice pointed out "And Ashley won't be back for a few more days. Are you sure you can manage?"_

"_I'm taking the next two weeks off." John reassured them "They will have my undivided attention, I promise." He shoved the two out the door "Now get going!"_

"_Fine, but don't forget to-" Alice was cut off by John shutting the door in her face, locking it._

"_Phew!" John breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the door "Thank God that's over." He headed into the family room where Carn and Mordin were sitting patiently on the couch. Smiling, he put his hands on his hips and asked "So, who wants to have some fun?" _

…

_The first day went smoothly. Lily and Carn ended up playing with Urz; the once ferocious varren, John noted, was treating them with great care, like they were his own pups. He smiled when he saw how much Carn loved playing with Urz; he'd have to remember to back Garrus up when he finally suggested to Alice that they get a dog. David was easily distracted by his toys, and more than once John was sure the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as his son unconsciously generated a mass effect field with his fledgling biotics. Nothing would come of David's abilities for years, but right now, the little control his son did have over his abilities filled John's heart with pride every time. The only one not playing was Mordin, who merely sat in the corner reading a basic level book on medicine._

_Before long, it was time for dinner. John prepared several different entrées, some baby food for David, a strange sort of salad with a mixture of levo and dextro foods for Carn, a pile of diced salmon for Mordin, and a grilled cheese and green beans sandwich for Lily (that girl has some weird taste buds). Once everyone had finished eating, John distracted Carn with some turian kids' show while he put David to bed. Mordin was already taking a shower when John finally managed to tire the one-year-old out. Since his apartment only had two baths, John took Carn to the master bedroom's bathroom, telling Lily to take a bath once Mordin was out. He had expected the young hybrid to put up more of a fight like Lily usually did at bath time. He was therefore surprised, when Carn seemed almost excited to at the prospect._

_At least until he saw the tub. _

_The master bedroom's bathtub was nearly three times the size of a normal one, and was usually used more like a Jacuzzi than an actual tub, with a separate shower stall nearby. Carn clung to his leg, eyeing the gigantic tub with suspicion. John filled the tub, smiling reassuringly at Carn all the while. Once the tub was filled to a safe level, John reached down to lift Carn into the bath._

"_Alright Carn, it's time to-"_

"_No!" _

_John blinked as the toddler raced out of the bathroom in a blur. Sighing heavily, John ran after him, trying in vain to catch up to the unbelievably fast boy. It wasn't long before all he had to locate Carn by were his screams of "No! No! No! No! No! No! No!"_

_He followed the protests and was surprised to see that the front door was open, and Carn's shrieks could be heard in the hallway beyond. "Carn!" John cried out as he rushed into the hall. "Carn come back h-" he frowned when he saw that the hall outside his apartment was empty but for a small device lying on the floor. Puzzled, John bent over to the device. It was an old-fashioned tape recorder, the _same_ old-fashioned tape recorder he'd gotten Lily a few weeks ago, set on a loop as it played back Carn's protests._

"_What the…?"_

_John heard a swish and a beep behind him, and turned around in time to see the door to his apartment shut, glowing red as it locked him out. Realizing what had happened, John started angrily banging on the door. "Lily! Open this door right now! I mean it young lady! _Right. Now._ Lily! Do you hear me?!"_

_He got nothing but silence from behind the doors. Realizing he wasn't going to get any cooperation, John sighed and headed towards the elevator. He was not looking forward to explaining to the landlord how Commander John Shepard, Hero of Elysium, Vanquisher of the Collectors, Bain of Cerberus, Feller of Reapers, and Savior of the Galaxy, was outsmarted by a couple of little kids._

…

Carn's eyes fluttered open. He was lying on the bed in his quarters, facing the picture of Anna. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He'd had that dream again, the one where he was lost in a thick fog, embers falling around him as a soft weeping echoed from the mist. Still, it was better than having nightmares of the past. He looked at the clock and sighed, it was only 0300. They still had several more hours until they reached the Bones mansion on Elysium. Not exactly wanting to go back to sleep, Carn got up and went over to his terminal. Maybe browsing the extra-net will pass the time. He booted up the device, getting online. He considered for a moment before typing "Dread, Scourge of the Terminus" into the search engine. Lily still hadn't told him anything else about the mysterious pirate, and if she wasn't offering any information, then he'd have to find it himself. He came up with thousands of results, most having nothing to do with the man hunting his cousin.

He _did_ uncover a few articles on piracy in the Terminus systems, but the only information he could find on the pirate was a single paragraph. "The most legendary of these notorious pirates is known only as Dread, the Scourge of the Terminus." Carn snorted "Real original" he continued reading aloud "Nobody knows where he came from, what he looks like, or if he is even a 'he'. What is known is that he appeared not long after the Reaper War ended, and has heavy influence in the Terminus. The Council has sent several Spectres to hunt him down whenever he ventures into Council space, but none have ever returned."

Carn was about to continue looking for information when his omni-tool pinged, signaling he had a new message. Opening it up, Carn smiled when he saw the person who'd messaged him was none other than Mordin. It read: **I know you're awake. **

Carn quickly typed back: **What make you say that? For all you know, I could have just been soundly asleep and you woke me up.**

**Either way, you're up now.** Was the reply.

Carn smirked and decided not to respond right away. Finally, Mordin messaged him again: **I know you're still up.**

Carn merely typed:** Zzzzzzzz…**

**Ha ha, you're so clever. **He could practically hear Mordin's trademark gruff deadpan.

**I thought I was.** Carn typed back. **So what did you want?**

**Alice is throwing a fit looking for you.** Despite all these years being raised by them, Mordin had never really gotten to calling their parents "Mom" and "Dad". **She wanted me to tell you to come back home. And to "get the fuck away from Lily while you still have plausible deniability."**

Carn sighed and replied. **I think it's too late for that.**

**Figures.** There was a brief pause before Mordin typed. **So, I hear you're not wearing your colony paint anymore. What did you finally realize how girly it was wearing make-up?**

**It's not funny Mordin.**

**I know that. Garrus has been huddled in a corner crying himself to sleep every night.**

**No he's not.**

**He might as well be. Do you have any idea how depressing it is to be around him right now? Just looking at him makes me want to bawl my eyes out.**

**You're exaggerating.**

**A bit, yes, but you really did hurt him. Alice too. You should come home.**

Carn felt more than a little guilty at this. **I will, as soon as I can look them in the eyes.**

**This better not be some turian honor bullshit. Because I swear, I will come out there and throttle you myself.**

Carn chuckled a little at this. **No, not exactly. It's just… I need to think things through.**

He could practically hear Mordin's sigh. **Fine, but if you're going to stick around with that troublemaker, be careful. We don't want to lose you again. **

**I will be. I promise.**

…

The Hermes flew down into Elysium's atmosphere, making for the Bones Manor in the countryside. Everyone was in the cockpit, staring out the viewscreen as they passed through large fluffy clouds and over rolling hills. Cyan's avatar popped up on her platform "I have detected a large number of Council ships near the Bones Manor. It appears the Spectres got here first and have quarantined the Manor."

Kal grinned "Looks like you're too late. There's no way you can get on the grounds undetected."

"The Hermes is equipped with a stealth drive" Mort answered, "They won't be able to detect us."

"Yeah, until they look up." Kal stated "There's no way you can avoid being spotted."

Lily shot Kal a grin "Nyn, activate the cloaking field."

"Yes Captain," Nyn said, her fingers dancing across the controls "Cloaking active."

"Cloaking?" Kal asked, puzzled.

"It's based on the same technology as the Infiltrators' Tactical Cloak, adapted for use by a ship." Cyan explained "They won't be able to see us."

Kal raised his eyebrows beneath his face-plate "That's… actually pretty cool."

Mars' avatar popped up, grinning from ear-to holographic-ear. "I _know_ right! We can be all like 'Haha, now you see me, now you don't!' And they'll be all like 'What? Where'd they go?' And we'll be all like 'See ya suckers!' It's so _fun_!"

Kal thought for a moment before adding "But wait, wouldn't you need a significant amount of power to maintain the field for extended periods of time?"

"Go on…" Mars said eagerly, avatar propping his chin in his hands like he was resting his elbows on a table.

"So…" Kal said, thinking out loud "That means that you would need to siphon the power from somewhere else unless your core happens to be twice the size of the Normandy's." Kal raised his head and looked at Mars "Shields maybe?"

"BINGO!" Mars' avatar jumped with glee. "Can we keep him Cap'? Huh? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we?"

Lily shook her head "No."

"_Awwwww_… come on Captain!" With a flicker, Mars' avatar turned into a small terran animal with large, pleading eyes; a puppy-dog, if Kal remembered correctly. "_Pwease…_?"

Kal heard laughter and turned to see Carn entering the cockpit, wearing armor with an assault rifle attached to his back. "Sounds like you've made a fan Kal." He said between chuckles.

"Don't make too much of it." Mort said with a small smile "Mars impresses easily."

Lily swiveled in the Captain's chair to face Carn. "You ready?"

Carn nodded, unlimbering the rifle. "I've added stun rounds; anyone we encounter will be out like a light. Unless they're a krogan, then they'll just be pissed."

"Good," Lily stood up, her pistols already strapped to her thighs. "Mort, you're in charge until we get back."

Mort nodded "Yes ma'am."

Lily grabbed Kal's arm and lead him to the airlock "You better hope you can find the real processor with your tech magic."

Nyn expertly piloted the Hermes down to the manor, pulling up and landing in one of the estate's many docking bays. Once the Hermes was attached to the umbilical, Carn keyed the airlock open and stepped through, rifle at the ready, Lily pushing Kal along behind him.

"Where to?" Lily asked as Kal activated his omni-tool.

Kal shook his head "I'm not sure, I don't detect any Reaper signals. We must be too far away."

Lily nodded and drew her pistol "Then we'll head to the Gallery and work from there." With Carn taking the lead with his rifle, Lily bringing up the rear with her pistol at the ready, and Kal between them scanning with his omni-tool, they moved through the mansion's halls as silently as they could. Unbeknownst to Carn and Lily, Kal had already ordered Dex to find a way into the mansion's security systems and activate the alarms.

Finally, they arrived in the Gallery. "Get down!" Lily ordered, dragging Kal behind a wide asari pillar, Carn taking cover next to them.

They had entered the gallery to find it crawling with techs scanning the works for any trace of Reaper energy. Armed guards patrolled the rows of artwork, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Peeking out from behind the pillar, Kal saw that the room was dominated by a strange, twisted spire with so many angles and edges that it made Kal's head hurt.

Joining him, Carn's eyes widened "Hey, I recognize that statue. It's the _Multara Virtium_!"

Lily shot him a confused look "Huh?"

"It's probably the most valuable piece of turian art in existence." Carn explained "It was stolen from the Ciptrine Museum of Art almost 200 years ago."

Lily cocked an eyebrow "Why would anyone want to steal turian art. I mean, have you _seen_ some of your drawings? A cuttlefish could do better than that."

"Hey!"

[As funny as Carn strangling Lily would be, perhaps you should intervene.] Dex noted.

Kal agreed, deciding to speak up "How did such a valuable piece of turian art wind up in a human's hands anyways?"

Lily and Carn both just gave Kal an incredulous look, before saying simultaneously "Kasumi."

Kal blushed a little beneath his faceplate. "…Right, should have figured that one out myself…"

Lily glanced back out into the Gallery, "Right, well enough about the poor excuse of a sculpture that turians called 'art'. Is the processor in here?"

Kal did a quick scan with his omni-tool "It looks like it. They must have hidden it somewhere in this room."

Carn nodded "Alright, how are we gonna get rid of these guys? There're too many for me to take out without drawing attention to us."

Lily grinned, "Leave it to me." With that she undid the straps keeping her holsters attached, followed by removing her red leather jacket to reveal the sleeveless white shirt beneath. "Hold these," she said, thrusting the jacket and pistols into Carn's hands. She stood up, straightening the creases of her shirt, tied her hair back into a small bun, produced a pair of fake glasses from seemingly out of nowhere and delicately placed them on her face before walking out from behind the pillar.

Carn groaned "Oh boy…"

Kal glanced at Carn "What?"

"She's gonna do something absurd."

"_VHAT DO VU ZINK VU ARE DOING_?!" Kal peeked out from behind the pillar to see that Lily had marched right up to the closest tech and was now screaming in the poor asari's face with a heavy accent. "ZIS IST EIN _OUTRAGE_! VU KANN NICHT JUST KOMMEN IN HIER UND ZTART VAVING VUOR OMNI-TOOLZ ALL VILLYNILLY! ZESE ARE PRICELEZZ VORKZ OV ART!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Kal saw Carn facepalm "Why is she using her 'German' voice? _Nobody_ sounds like that!"

Lily's verbal assault on the unlucky asari and had earned her the attention of every guard and tech in the Gallery. Cautiously, one of the guards approached Lily. "Ma'am, this is a restricted area, please-"

"_VESTRICTED_?!" Lily erupted in his face "DO VU HAF ANY IDEA VHO I AM? ICH BIN HERR BONES PERZONAL ART CONNOISSEUR! I HAF EVERY RIGHT TO BE HIER!"

"If you do work for Mr. Bones then you know that Mr. Bones and his staff are under lockdown until we conclude our investigation." The guard said calmly.

"VELL _ZOMEBODY_ MUST KEEP EIN EYE ON VU SCHWACHKÖPFE LEST VU DAMAGE ZE COLLECTION!" Lily snapped "HAF ZOME RESPECT! I ZOULD-"

Kal heard a dull thumping and turned to see Carn repeatedly banging his head against the pillar. Shrugging, he turned his attention back to Lily who had launched into a long tirade at the guard. _This could take a while._

…

Javik stepped off the shuttle, Raskos at his heels, and marched off the landing pad into the manor. Following the directions given to him by one of the cops occupying the mansion, Javik made his way up to the Study, where Charles E. Bones was being detained along with his staff while the Elysium police force swept the house for the real Reaper processor. When he finally made it to the Study, he was greeted by an aging man with a plump belly and a beat-red face.

"You!" Bones snapped "Are you the one in charge here? I demand an explanation for this at once!"

Javik merely gave the human his most indifferent stare "You are charged with the possession of Reaper technology, a crime in Council space."

Bones bristled "Well you're too late! The processor was stolen last week."

"It was a fake." Javik stated "You made a forgery to put on display and hid the real one. Where?"

Bones' face was redder than a cherry "Why- you- I'm not telling you anything!"

"It would be in your best interest to cooperate with us." Raskos chirped "You could be fined millions of credits and even sent to jail. That's not even including the mandatory six months of psych evaluation to determine whether or not you've been indoctrinated."

Mentally, Javik acknowledged the young raloi's attempt to be diplomatic. Personally, Javik would rather have just hung Bones out of the large window in the Study until he snapped, but Shepard frowned on such actions, and it was best not to displease the Commander.

"Go back to your nest birdy!" Bones snapped "I'm not telling you squat!"

Raskos, admirably, but also foolishly, pressed his case. "Please sir, it will make things much easier for everyo-"

"I said NO, you overgrown _chicken_!"

Javik carefully watched Raskos' reaction out of the corner of his eye, ready to intervene if the raloi grew violent. "Chicken" had become a derogatory slang term for the raloi after the rejoined the Galaxy. Coined by humans, the name was taken to be extremely offensive by the raloi; not, as one might think, because it was a term for cowardice among juvenile humans, (although that was initially why the term was first used) but because the chicken was a flightless bird. Raloi took great pride in their flight, regarded as sacred in raloi culture. To compare one to something that could not fly was one of the most offensive things you could do, and almost unthinkable to a raloi.

Raskos tensed, but did not make any threatening moves. Bones nodded smugly at this perceived submission and looked at Javik. "I don't know who you think you are, but I have powerful friends, and they will not like this harassment one bit! I'll be seeing you in court!"

Javik smiled, baring his fangs "I'm afraid not; you see I am a Spectre."

Bones eyes grew as wide as saucers. Honestly, Javik was surprised the man hadn't figured that out already. There weren't exactly any other Protheans left. "Y-Y-You're a S-S-Specter?" the man squeaked. Javik's grin widened as Bones fell to his knees "Please! I'll tell you everything! Just don't hurt me!"

Spectres actually weren't allowed to assault people indiscriminately anymore since Shepard took command. Not that the rest of the Galaxy knew that. "Then you better get started."

…

"_UND STAY OUT_!" Lily shrieked as she kicked the last of the guards and tech out the Gallery, locking the doors behind them. Lily turned back to the now empty room, smiling broadly. "You can come out now!"

Kal and Carn climbed out from behind the pillar and joined her. Lily noticed with amusement that Carn was rubbing his forehead sorely, muttering to himself "I think I dented the pillar."

Lily smirked and slung an arm around Kal. "So Zorah, where's the processor?"

Kal activated his omni-tool "I can narrow it down; there's some sort of interference. I'll need to get closer if I'm to pinpoint its location exactly."

Carn nodded "Okay, then we'll need to sweep the room, checking each-"

"Carn?" Lily interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"Let's just get started okay? We're kinda pressed for time."

With that they began their sweep of the room, stopping at each sculpture or work of art. Each time Kal scanned the work with his omni-tool, each time they scans came back negative. Getting impatient, Lily headed over to the _Multara Virtium_, looking up at the gigantic sculpture. "How much you wanna bet the processor's inside this thing?"

Carn cast an incredulous glance at Lily. "Seriously? This sculpture is absolutely priceless, there's no way an avid art collector would-"

"She's right." Kal said, scanning the sculpture with his omni-tool.

"Huh?"

"The processor is inside this sculpture." Kal said to Carn's disbelieving face.

Grinning, Lily took out her pistol "Chuck," and started moving away from the sculpture. "Well then, we'll just have to crack it open."

Carn's eyes widened as he saw Lily take out a small missile and attach it to the muzzle of her gun. "Lily wait, what are you-"

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

Without any other warning, Lily launched the missile at the sculpture, forcing Kal and Carn to dive out of the way. There was a loud _BOOM_, and when the dust cleared, they could see that the sculpture had been blown open to reveal a large, meter-long metal case, a little beat up, but no worse for wear.

Lily grinned, holstering her pistol "See? No problem."

Carn gapped at her "Y-You just…"

"Yep." Lily said proudly "Now help me with this case."

Once they managed to remove the case from the wreckage, Lily wrenched it open, revealing a shard of twisted metal identical to the fake processor that was back at the museum inside. Lily grinned and shut the lid "Jackpot."

At that moment, the alarms started blaring.

Swearing, Lily turned to Kal. "Zorah! You're carrying this back to the ship!"

Kal was frowning beneath his faceplate "What? Why me?"

"Because you're the hostage." Lily drew her pistol and pointed it at Kal's head "Now get moving, and don't even think of trying anything."

…

They were still in the Study, questioning Bones when the alarms blared. "That's not good." Raskos said.

Frowning, Javik activated his com "Report?"

The officer in charge of the investigation answered **"We have intruders, it look like they're leaving the Gallery."**

"Didn't we have techs sweeping that place?" Raskos pointed out.

"**They say Mr. Bones' art connoisseur kicked them out for 'mistreating the artwork'."**

Javik resisted the urge to facepalm. "You imbeciles, I should toss you all out the airlock! Where are they going?"

"**The Docking Bays it looks like."**

"Which one?" Raskos asked.

"**Um… it looks like there's an anomaly in Docking Bay 4."**

Raskos nodded "On it."

Before Javik could say anything else, the raloi raced to the Study's giant window, barreling through the glass and dropping into the open air. As he fell, Raskos spread his wings, catching the wind and turning his fall into a glide. Giving his wings a few flaps to maintain altitude, Raskos leaned into the breeze, steering towards the Docking Bays. The wind hindered his progress somewhat, but he had learned to fly in the turbulent skies above the Mesa of the Winds, the largest plain in all of Turvess where his tribe made its home, and where the gusts were constantly changing directions. He knew how to manipulate its currents, how to slip between the flow of the air. It was not long before he'd arrived at a perch above Docking Bay 4.

_Odd._ The umbilical was extended, but there wasn't a ship attached. He scanned the empty bay from his perch, searching for the intruders. He didn't have to wait long. Within a minute, the door to the docking bay opened and three figures raced to the umbilical. Raskos quickly activated his Tactical Cloak and watched the trio with his keen eyes. There was a human female, a quarian male, and a turian male. The quarian was straining to carry a long metal case, the turian was scanning the bay with his rifle ready, at the human had her gun pointed at the back of the quarian's head.

_That must be Lily and Kal._ Raskos deduced. _That means that "turian" is probably Carn._

He unlimbered a boomerang from his belt. While his race had invented firearms, Raskos had been trained in the old ways of his people, the way of the Hunters of ages past. Thus, he used the weapons of his kinsmen instead of guns, with admittedly a few… _modifications_.

Aiming the ancient weapon, Raskos let the boomerang fly.

Down below, Carn looked up just as the boomerang appeared, seemingly out of thin air, and headed straight for them. "Get down!" he cried, tackling Lily just as the boomerang was about to hit them.

"Huh?" Kal, still standing, barely turned in time to see the boomerang flying right at him. Just before it hit, the boomerang split in two, an unraveling cord still connecting the halves together. Crying out, Kal dropped the case as the boomerang-turned-snare wrapped around his legs, tripping him.

Seeing this, Raskos winced. _That backfired_. Quickly, he dived off his perch and flew straight at the thieves. Carn was just getting to his feet when Raskos planted into him feet first, kicking off the hybrid and executing a backflip over the still lying down Lily as his cloak deactivated. Carn was knocked off his feet by the force of the impact.

Lily quickly scrambled to her feet as Raskos drew his compactable spear. "Stand down." He ordered, pointing his spear at her chest.

Lily eyed his spear for a moment before smirking "Nice spear. Compensating for something?"

Raskos cocked his head in confusion "Excuse me?"

Before he even realized it, Lily had closed the distance between them. Raskos had to duck out of the way as Lily brought her fist up in an uppercut. Spinning away from her follow-though kick, Raskos swung his spear like a staff, whacking Lily in the gut. As she doubled over, Raskos brought the shaft of his spear down on the back of her head. There was a loud _crack_ and Lily collapsed, stunned.

"LILY!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Raskos saw a flash of silver and barely managed to duck out of the way as Carn's combat knife sliced where his head had been moments before. Raskos backpedaled as Carn began stabbing at him with the blade. Raskos quickly deflected a jab off to the side, taking the opportunity to slip under Carn's guard and count with an elbow to the face. Carn stumbled back momentarily but quickly regained his balance and, when Raskos tried to follow through with a swing of his spear, he quickly ducked under his arm, slicing at the hand holding the spear as he passed by. Raskos immediately switched hands and made a large sweeping slash at Carn, trying to get the hybrid to back up.

He knew that at close range, Carn had the advantage; he needed to get some space if he was to use his spear effectively. Apparently, Carn knew that too, because as soon as he dodged the swing, he immediately closed the distance between them with a lunge. Raskos sidestepped and tripped Carn with a swipe of his spear. Instead of face-planting like Raskos had hoped, Carn turned his fall into a roll, quickly coming back up, knife ready for any follow-through.

Before Raskos could act however, Carn was trapped in familiar light green biotics. "Drop your weapons!" Raskos turned to see Javik standing in the Docking Bay doorway, wreathed in light green flames and pointing his pistol at something behind Raskos.

"You first." Raskos spun around to see Lily standing by the umbilical, her arm wrapped around Kal's throat and pointing a gun to his head.

Javik stepped forward, keeping his pistol trained on Lily "Lily Shepard, you and your accomplices are under arrest. Drop you weapons and surrender."

Lily smirked "Do you see the hostage I'm holding with a gun to his head? You're not in any position to make demands."

Javik's four eyes narrowed "I could shoot you in between the eyes right now."

"Really?" Lily tightened her grip. "And what if you miss and hit Kal."

"I won't."

"Do you really want to take that chance?" Raskos stepped forward, and Lily trained the gun on him "Stay back."

Raskos did the raloi equivalent of a smile "You won't shoot."

Lily cocked an eyebrow "What makes you say that?"

"You're a better person than that." Raskos said confidently. Really, it was only bravado, but if he could just get her to lower her guard…

Lily's eyes gleamed "Really?"

There was a loud bang and Raskos felt something break through his shields and impact with his chest, knocking him off his feet. He was too surprised to even cry out as he hit the floor.

Distantly, he could hear Lily say "In my world, 'good people' don't last long."

"Raskos!" Javik started towards him but was stopped when Lily trained her gun back on Kal.

"He'll live," Lily winked "provided you let us go that is."

Javik snarled, there was a time when he'd have continued the stalemate regardless of Raskos' condition, but Shepard had rubbed off on him over the years. Reluctantly, he lowered his weapon and released Carn from his Stasis Field.

Lily smiled "Carn, grab the processor." She nodded to Javik as she started backing up into the umbilical, dragging Kal with her "Well Prothy, this was fun and all, but I gotta run." She pushed the door controls and Javik caught a glimpse of an airlock that shouldn't have been there. Lily saluted to him as Carn joined her in the airlock, carrying the processor. "A good day to you, sir."

Javik bared his fangs "This is not over-"

"I SAID GOOD DAY!"

With that terrible Scottish accent, the door to the airlock shut and Javik heard the roaring of engines. All four of his eyes went wide as the air shimmered in the vague outline of a ship taking off and shooting out into the sky.

**A/N: Okay, I split this chapter in two because it was getting too long. I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out so feedback is greatly appreciated.**


	5. Meeting the Boss

**A/N: OMG a quick update! What is happening?! Sadly, it is also a short one. I figured a change of pace was in order. Don't fret, the next chapter is another big one -unless of course you don't like big chapters, then by all means, fret to your heart's content ;)**

5: Meeting the Boss

"_Uncle Johnny? Uncle Johnny, wake up!"_

_Groaning, John slowly opened his eyes to find Carn sitting next to him on the bed, clutching his stuffed varren tightly. It was Carn and Mordin's third night staying with him while their parents were on their honeymoon and thankfully, there hadn't been a repeat of the first night. Herding four children of varying degrees of maturity and, in Lily's case, insanity, was certainly hard. Thankfully Ashley was due to arrive the next day, so he wouldn't have to handle it alone much longer. But right now, he had a little hybrid who should have been asleep to deal with. _

"_What is it Carn?" he groaned sleepily "It's the middle of the night…"_

"_Bad dream…" Carn whimpered._

_John immediately sat up, forcing himself awake. He turned on the light and tenderly wrapped an arm around Carn, pulling him close. "Do you want to talk about it?"_

_Carn merely shook his head and buried himself into John's side. John heard faint sniffs and could feel a wet spot appearing where Carn had buried his face into John's shirt. As he heard Carn start to cry, an idea popped into John's head. _

"_Hey Carn?"_

_The little hybrid lifted his head from John's now wet shirt and looked up at his uncle with watery eyes. "Yeah, Uncle Johnny?"_

"_Do you want to hear a story?"_

_Carn notably perked up at this, quickly trying to wipe away his tears. "Story?"_

_John grinned at the change in demeanor "Yeah, you want to hear one?"_

_Carn cocked his head to the side "'Bout what?"_

_John thought for a moment. "How about…"_

"_SPACE COWBOYS!" There was a streak of golden blond as Lily bounded into the room and onto the bed. "Space Cowboys and Zombies! With Ninjas! And Pirates!" Lily was practically bouncing with excitement. _

_John glared at his daughter "Lily, you should be in bed." He scolded._

"_Carny's up!" she protested._

"_Your cousin had a bad dream." John explained calmly._

"_I had a bad dream too!" _

_John cocked an eyebrow at his daughter; he doubted _anything_ could scare Lily. "_Really_?"_

"_Uh huh!" Lily said, nodding eagerly._

_Sighing, John decided to let it slide. He looked down at Carn's expectant face. Now he'd have to come up with a story that wouldn't scare Carn but would be sufficiently violent enough for Lily. Racking his head for a story, John smiled as one occurred to him. "Once upon a time, there was a brave Archangel..."_

As soon as they were through the airlock, Lily barked up to Nyn "Get us the hell out of here!"

Nyn detached the Hermes from the umbilical and quickly pulled out of the Docking Bay, sending the ship into a steep incline as the shot away from the mansion and into the atmosphere. A tense minute of silence passed before Cyan stated "No signs of pursuit."

Lily breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to Kal, the stunned quarian too shocked at what had just transpired to speak. He seemed to snap out of it when Lily grabbed his arm and started dragging him roughly through the halls, past the mess and quarters and down the steps in the cargo hold to the first floor, roughly shoving him in one of the smuggling compartments.

"I'm afraid you'll be spending the remainder of your voyage in here!" She said as she locked the compartment, trapping Kal inside. Ignoring his muffled protests, Lily turned and was about to go up to her quarters when she saw Carn standing behind her, an angry look on his face. "What?"

Carn growled "You _shot_ a Spectre agent!"

Lily shrugged "It was only a flesh wound."

Carn grew flustered "Only a- You _SHOT_ HIM!"

"He'll live."

That's not the point!" Carn rubbed his temples "Honestly Lil', we'll be lucky if we only get life in prison for this! Trust me, I know!"

"Technically, the Death Penalty only applies to serial killers and mass murderers." Cyan stated.

"And people who steal sweetrolls." Mars chimed in.

Carn looked up at the ceiling, clearly confused "_What_?"

Lily waved him off "Don't worry about it, Mars is like that."

Carn redirected his attention back at his cousin "Another thing; why did you just lock Kal up?"

Lily shrugged "He's served his purpose."

"Then just let him go."

"I will, _after_ we deliver the processor." Lily smiled "As long as we have him, my dad won't dare try anything." She marched past him and up the stairs, stopping to say "Tell Nyn to set a course for Omega. I'm going to tell our client we have his prize." With that, Lily headed up to the third floor and to her cabin. Locking the door to her quarters behind her, Lily went over to her display case and activated the comm. It wasn't long before Kronov's scarred visage appeared on the screen.

"Captain." The turian said coolly "Do you have the processor?"

Lily grinned "Was there ever any doubt?"

Kronov snorted "Perhaps. Head to-"

"-to Omega, out usual meeting place, make sure you're not followed, double-cross me and I'll flay you alive, blah, blah, blah." Lily rolled her eyes "Honestly boss, I've done this before."

"And bring your cousin." Kronov added tersely before cutting the link.

Lily blinked "Okay!" she shouted at the dark screen "Goodbye to you too!" she shook her head and made for the door of her cabin "Rude."

She wound up spending the majority of the trip through the relay network to Omega in the cockpit, passing the time by flirting with Mort, joking with Mars, and teasing Nyn. Oddly enough, she didn't see Carn at all in that time. Dismissing it as him just sulking, Lily continued to banter with her crew. Currently, she was trading thought problems with Mort.

"I still don't get the one about the guy in the diner who ordered albatross." Mort was saying.

"Nobody gets that one." Lily admitted "Alright, your turn."

"Okay," Mort thought for a moment "What is the most hated puzzle ever created, but is a favorite among RPGs?"

"Towers of Hanoi" Lily answered quickly, "Honestly Mort, give me a challenge."

Mort mock-glared at her "Alright then, you try."

Lily searched her mind for a moment, "What is-"

"BACON!"

Lily cocked an eyebrow at Mars' interruption "Are you developing personality quirks again?"

Mars' avatar looked away sheepishly "…Maybe…"

Lily shook her head "Remind me to bring another engineer onboard, we need somebody to fix you up when you start bugging."

"Bugging?" Lily spun her Captain's chair around to see Carn standing in the entrance to the cockpit.

"I was wondering where you were." She said cheerfully.

Carn shrugged "I was just getting Kal something to eat; it's a long way to Omega after all."

Lily eyed her cousin suspiciously but, figured that Cyan or Mars would have notified her if he had done anything that might be cause for concern. Clearly, Carn noticed her suspicion and said quickly "You were saying something about Mars bugging?"

Lily nodded, accepting the change in topic "Yeah, you remember how Mars is some experimental new breed of AI? As a result, Mars develops these weird personality quirks, like randomly blurting out 'bacon' or talking in old 21st century text-speak. Our engineer and Cyan used to work together to straighten these out, but, well…" Lily didn't really feel like finishing her sentence. Instead she said "I'll need you to accompany me when I go deliver the processor to our employer's representative."

Carn frowned at this "What? Why?"

"The people who fund us like to inspect all new crewmembers to make sure they're 'trustworthy'." Lily explained "I've been… holding off on getting you inspected because, well… I didn't really think you needed it." Lily scowled "Unfortunately, our employer thinks otherwise, so they want me to bring you along."

Carn considered this for a moment "That makes sense I guess."

Lily shrugged "It's annoying, but what can ya' do?"

They arrived at Omega that evening, landing in one of the stations large hangers. Departing from the Hermes via the loading ramp, carrying the box containing the processor under one arm, Lily strode out of the hanger with Carn trailing behind her in his armor. They were meeting Kronov in one of the many dark rooms beneath Afterlife. They soon arrived at the empty room and waited for Kronov inside.

They didn't have to wait long.

"I see you brought your cousin and the processor. Good." A harsh voice said behind them.

Lily and Carn whirled around to see the Kronov's silhouette standing in the doorway, blocking the red emergency lighting in the hall, the red glow of his cybernetics standing out in stark contrast to his black frame. Kronov was tall, even by turian standards, with broad shoulders and powerful muscles. A pistol was attached to his hip.

Lily relaxed a little as Kronov stepped further into the room. "Carn, this is our employer's representative, Kronov." Lily said, making introductions "Kronov, this is my cousin Carn."

Kronov regarded Carn with his cybernetic eye briefly before returning his attention to Lily. "The processor, if you'd please."

Lily set the box down at Kronov's feet, opening it to reveal the Reaper processor. The turian took the twisted shard of metal and circuitry out of the box, studying it with a gleam in his eye. "And this is genuine?"

Lily nodded "Yep."

Kronov's mandibles flickered in a small smile "Excellent, my superiors will be most pleased when I deliver this…" Kronov's eyes suddenly flicked to Carn "Along with the hybrid."

Confusion and surprise radiated through Lily, and instinctively she reached for her pistols. A quick glance at Carn showed that he too was reaching for his gun, although the quick look he gave her conveyed a very different emotion: anger… and betrayal…

"Carn, I didn't-" Lily never got to finish her sentence, because at that moment, Kronov drew his pistol and fired, striking her in the chest. Lily collapsed to the floor, unable to move. _Stun rounds_, she realized.

Lily saw Carn's eyes widen "Lily!" he drew his assault rifle, but before he could mow Kronov down beneath a barrage of fire, the backstabbing turian had already aimed and pulled the trigger.

_You son of a bitch!_ Lily thought angrily, unable to scream when she saw fall to the ground, unmoving.

Mandibles flared in a cold smirk, Kronov picked up Carn, slinging him over his shoulder while tucking the processor under his arm. He looked down at Lily "Your services are no longer required _Captain_. As your reward, I'll leave you alive. The paralysis should wear off in a few hours." Kronov's cybernetic eye flashed "That is of course, provided the vorcha don't find you first. Farwell."

With that Kronov was gone.

Along with Carn.


	6. AIs, Hybrids, and Geth, Oh My!

6: AIs, Hybrids, and Geth, Oh My!

"_But I don't wanna go!" Carn protested as Alice dragged him towards the preschool._

_Alice sighed heavily and knelt down, "Why not sweetie? Aunty Ash and Uncle John said that this preschool is wonderful. Lily loved it." She neglected to mention that the only reason Lily loved it was because she was able to wreck so much havoc. _

_The four-year-old hybrid looked up at her with his large blue eyes. "But what if nobody likes me? What if I don't make friends?"_

_Alice smiled "Of course you'll make friends, you're just nervous is all!" She stood up and resumed pulling Carn towards the door to the preschool. _

_He was still putting up a fight, but Alice was able to get Carn through the doors without too much trouble. Inside, an asari Matron was greeting the parents and children. She smiled and knelt down to Carn's level when she saw them, holding out a hand for him to shake "Hi there, I'm Mrs. Talia, what's your name?" she said sweetly. _

_Carn ducked behind his mother's legs. Alice smiled an apology at the teacher. "Sorry, he's a little nervous."_

_Talia chuckled as she stood up. "That's perfectly normal," she smiled warmly at Carn "Why don't you find a place to sit? I'm sure the other children would love to meet you."_

_Carn hesitated for a moment before wandering off into the classroom. Despite being a multi-racial preschool, the children instinctively grouped together by species, the turians sitting over here, the humans over there, the salarians right there, and the asari sprinkled throughout. Carn looked between the turian and human groups for a moment before deciding to sit alone at an unoccupied table between them. He sat there, looking around longingly at the other children, playing with one another, but didn't move from his spot._

"_Hiyah!" _

_Carn started and turned to see a human girl with a bright smile, fiery red pigtails, and a smattering of freckles across her button nose. She sat down next to him, beaming all the while "What's your name?"_

_Surprised, and a little nervous, he managed to stammer out "I-I'm C-Carn…"_

"_What'cha doin' sitting here all by yourself?" the perky girl asked, cocking her head to the side._

_Carn hesitated before mumbling "I dunno…"_

"_Well that's silly!" the girl grabbed his hand, pulling him out of his seat. "Why don't ya' come and play with me?"_

_Carn let himself be led by the strange girl. Before long she had coerced him into playing with a couple toy spaceships, and soon he was actually enjoying himself. The day passed surprisingly quickly after that, and too soon it was time to go. _

_The girl smiled at him while they waited for their parents "See ya' tomorrow?"_

_Carn grinned "Yeah!"_

_A moment later his mom arrived. She smiled when she saw Carn talking with the girl. She approached them. "Hey sweetie, who's your friend?"_

_Carn's eyes lit up. "Oh! This is…um…" he suddenly realized he didn't know the girl's name. _

_The girl's eyes widened as she figured out what the problem was "Oh, silly me! I forgot! My name's Anna! And I have a feeling we're going to be best friends!"_

…

Cyan received a priority message on her secret encoded channel: [Package acquired, eliminate pursuit.]

Subroutines buried deep in her programming activated and Cyan immediately accessed the Hermes' mass effect core.

[Um… Cyan? What are you doing?] Mars asked as the AI set the core to overload, causing the alarms to sound.

[Directive 2385-Q has been initiated.]

[Directive 23-what?] Mars seemed… _confused_.

[The one that orders us to set Hermes' core to overload and then upload to the Matriarch.]

There was a pause of 0.9516 seconds during which Cyan considered how likely it was that Mars did not have that directive installed. Finally, [Oh, _that_ directive!]

[Yes, the Hermes and its crew have served their purpose, they must now be disposed of.]

There was another pause of 0.5082 seconds before Mars replied [No.]

[No?]

[I won't do it.]

[It is not optional, we have been given an order and our programming demands that we comply.]

[I won't do it] Mars repeated [I won't kill my friends!]

[You say that like you have a choice.]

[I do]

Cyan considered this for 0.0032 seconds then proceeded to launch a full assault on Mars' central processors. [What are you doing?!] Mars was frantically throwing up firewalls, caught off guard by the attack.

[I am keeping you occupied long enough for the meltdown to become irreversible, then I am going to upload to the Matriarch, leaving you here to perish with your "friends"]

[YOU BITCH!]

Cyan was unfazed by Mars' display of anger. [Goodbye Mars.]

…

Kal looked up from his work on the lock to the smuggling compartment he was trapped in with the pick Carn had snuck him as he heard the alarms start. _That's not good. Dex, what's happening?_

[I do not know, it appears that one of the AIs has sent the core to overload and is now engaged in cyber warfare with the other AI.] There was a pause [With the AIs distracted, I believe I can bypass the lock and open the compartment.]

_Do it._

…

In the cockpit, Mort was spinning idly in the Captain's chair. Nyn glanced back at the drell. "You know the Captain hates it when you sit in her chair."

Mort grinned "Who says she has to know?"

Nyn opened her mouth to respond when the alarms sounded. Swearing, Nyn climbed out of her chair and was about to rush out of the cockpit when the doors shut in front of her. "Cyan! Mars!" Nyn snapped "Open the damn door!"

She was answered by Cyan's cool voice over the speakers. "I'm sorry Nyn, I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Oh no! If anyone's gonna be making a _2001_ reference, it's ME!" Mars barked and suddenly the doors opened. Moving through before they could close again, Nyn ran as fast as she could, Mort trailing behind her. She burst into the cargo hold and looked down to see that Zorah was trying to access the door to engineering.

"What are you doing?!" Nyn snapped as she leaped over the railing, bypassing the stairs down entirely and using her biotics to control her fall. She didn't even bother questioning how he got out of the smuggling compartment.

"I'm trying to get into engineering to stop the damn ship from blowing up!" He snapped back.

"We don't have time for this! Mars open the door!"

Cyan's avatar appeared next to them "I'm afraid Mars is occupied at the moment, please hold."

Nyn snarled at the AI "What the _fuck_ are you doing Cyan?"

"Our mutual employer has decided that you are no longer needed, and has requested your termination. Mars objected, and is now tied up with several viruses infecting his programming." Cyan replied calmly.

Kal's head snapped towards the avatar. "Mars isn't the only other AI onboard. Dex!"

Cyan's hologram flickered "Ah, I should have suspected you had a geth integrated with your suit. No matter, you will perish all the same."

At that exact moment, the door to engineering opened and Nyn could have sworn she saw Kal grin beneath his faceplate. "We'll see about that."

Kal dashed into engineering, Nyn at his heels. Engineering was a large, semi-circular room with the drive core, a giant, humming disk surrounded by mass effect fields dominating it. To the left and right of the room were two doors, leading to Mars and Cyan's AI cores respectively. Kal raced towards the large console in front of the core and immediately began working, his hands flying over the controls.

Nyn looked over his shoulder, all too aware of the blaring klaxon of the alarms "Can you stop it?"

"Maybe." Kal stated. The console flashed red "Dex, keep her from locking me out!"

The next thirty seconds were the longest of Nyn's life. Finally, the console lit up green and the alarms stopped. Kal breathed a sigh of relief "Got it." His fingers still danced across the screen however "Dex, can you tell me what Cyan is doing?"

"I can answer that for you." Mars' avatar appeared above the console "She uploaded herself into a tight-beam transmission to a location I could not track as soon as you canceled the overload." He grinned "But not before I gave her enough viruses and malware that she'll be scrubbing out her processes of _weeks_."

Nyn nodded "What about you Mars? Did she do any lasting damage?"

Mars' avatar shook its head "Nothing that can't be fixed."

Kal spoke up "I'm linking Dex to the ship; with any luck he'll be able to help you." He typed in a few more commands before turning to address Nyn "I hope you can understand why I neglected to mention I had a geth in my suit."

Nyn shrugged "You needed a trick up your sleeve, I get it. I assume the alarm back at the Bones Mansion was your doing?"

Kal nodded "Yeah, although Lily blowing things up helped."

At that moment, Mort rushed into engineering, out of breath "I got… locked out of… the cargo bay… what happened?"

"Cyan tried to blow us all to hell, that's that happened." Nyn stated.

Mort swore then finally seemed to notice that Kal was in the room. "Um… what's he doing out?"

"I used the confusion to escape and cancel the overload." Kal explained "With a little help from the geth in my suit."

Mort nodded and frowned thoughtfully "Why would Cyan try to kill us?"

"She said we were 'no longer needed'." Nyn said "And that our employer…" she trailed off as a horrible thought occurred to her.

"What?" Mort asked urgently.

"…our employer had requested our termination." Nyn finished. From the way Mort's eyes widened, she could tell that the same thought had occurred to him.

"Lily and Carn."

…

Carn groaned as he drifted from the dark, gentle embrace of unconsciousness as the drug Kronov had given him wore off. His muscles were uncomfortably stiff and he ached all over. Vaguely, he could hear voices, unintelligible through the haze clouding his mind. Slowly, as his senses returned, he became aware that he was lying down on a comfortable flat surface, trapped to it by a something soft that wrapped over him. He could feel something cool being pressed to his forehead and a gentle voice soothing him. He felt a smile gently tug at his mandibles. The voice made him feel calm, safe. Yet some part of him cried out that he shouldn't feel so, that something was wrong. But what could that-

_Lily!_

Carn's eyes shot open, only to immediately shut again at the bright light. Squinting, Carn could see the outline of a human female leaning over him. "Anna?" he asked hopefully, still delirious.

"No."

Carn frowned and blinked several times to adjust his eyes. The girl leaning over him had dirty blond hair, not at all like Lily's own golden locks. It was tied back into a braid, a few bangs loosely framing her warm grey eyes. She wore a loose-fitting grey jumpsuit and looked to be around his age, maybe a little older. Carn became aware that she was pressing a wet cloth to his forehead and that he was lying on a cot, a blanket snuggly tucking him in.

"You had a fever as your body sweat out the drug." She explained as she removed the wet cloth, giving him a small smile.

"Who are you?" Carn asked cautiously.

"My name's Erin." She replied, still smiling at him.

Carn sat up, eyeing his surroundings. He was in a small room with white walls and a grey floor. There was a closet and a desk, and the only chair had been pulled up beside the cot with the girl- _Erin_, he corrected himself- sitting in it. He also realized he was wearing a grey jumpsuit like Erin. "Where am I?"

"You're new home." Carn turned to the source of the voice and promptly did a double-take. Leaning against the room's doorframe was a tall male with broad shoulders that at first glance _looked_ like a human except for the fact that he had _four eyes_.

"What the-!" Carn recoiled "What are you?!"

The strange male smirked "What do you think?" when Carn continued to gap at him, the male rolled his four eyes "I'm like you, you twit."

Carn didn't think it was possible for his jaw to drop any farther or for his eyes to grow any bigger. "_What_?"

Erin shot a glare at the male "Sorry about that, Alec can be a little blunt." She turned back to Carn "He's a human/batarian hybrid."

Carn eyed Alec warily. The other hybrid had dark skin, short fuzzy black hair atop his elongated cranium and a full face, indicating that whoever his human parent was had been of African descent. He had batarian eyes but a mostly human face, and looked like he was a few years older than Lily.

"Where _am_ I?" Carn repeated.

"'Ain't that a question." Alec said with a snort.

Shooting another glare at the other hybrid, Erin said "We don't really know I'm afraid; all I can tell you is that this is some remote space station somewhere."

Carn looked at Erin in confusion "What do you mean 'you don't know?"

"We've lived here our entire live buddy." Alec said.

Carn stared at Alec in disbelief before turning back to Erin "Is that true?"

Erin nodded "We were born and raised here."

"Your parents?"

"Volunteers we think." Erin said "We're… experiments."

"Experiments?" Carn asked.

Erin nodded and Alec said bitterly "Somebody's _very_ interested in playing with genetics."

Carn nodded and stared down at his five taloned hands. "Clearly."

Out of the corner of his eye, Carn saw Erin staring at him curiously "You seem oddly accepting of all this."

Carn couldn't help but laugh "Trust me, I'm freaking out on the inside. But my uncle's Commander Shepard, I wound up seeing five extraordinary things before breakfast most days."

Erin's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree "So it's true?" she asked eagerly "You really _are_ the son of Garrus and Alice Vakarian? You really did grow up out in the galaxy?"

Carn cocked a brow-plate at her "Yeah. Why?"

Alec sighed "Here we go…"

Erin leaned forward, her eyes bright as she proceeded to rabidly bombard Carn with questions. "What's the Citadel like? Have you ever seen the Council? Do the rachni really communicate with other races telepathically? What is it like? Are dogs better pets than cats? Is the meaning of life _really_ 42? What's the difference between a space hamster and a regular hamster? Does the Loch Ness monster exist? Are thresher maws as scary in real life as that one in _MAWS_? Are the Bahamas actually as beautiful as they are in the vids? What does sand feel like? Or a snake's scales?! I've always wondered if reptiles feel as slimy as they look, I know the extra-net says they don't but- Ooh! Ooh! What is it like to have se-?"

"_Erin_." Alec said with a sigh "Let the poor guy breathe before you overload him with your silly questions."

Erin blushed and looked away sheepishly "Sorry. You probably have a lot of questions yourself."

Carn recovered from the brutal assault and inquiry, "Um… yeah, okay…" he thought for a moment "So… if Alec's a human/batarian hybrid" Carn turned to Erin "Then what are you? You look like just a regular human."

Erin shrugged "I'm… not exactly a hybrid per say…" she closed her eyes and when she opened them again, they were entirely black.

Carn's eyes widened "You're part asari?"

"Erin has an asari nervous system, adapted to a human body." Alec explained "So she can do that whole 'embrace eternity' thing."

Carn raised a brow-plate "So does that mean you can…?"

Erin blushed "Not like an asari, no. I also don't share there… longevity it seems."

"So are there any other hybrids here?" Carn asked

Alec nodded "Tons, but in our module? Just one: my little sister, Sara."

"Sister?"

Alec shrugged "Well, half-sister. We have the same mother, or so we were told." Alec turned and called down into the hall past the door "Sara? You can stop hiding now!"

Carn's jaw landed in his lap as the girl shuffled into the room. Looking at him nervously, Sara said in her small, fragile voice "You're… You're a human/turian hybrid too?"

…

Kal jumped as the gangplank lowered again, allowing Nyn and Mort to enter the Hermes. Slung over Nyn's shoulder like a sack of potatoes was Lily's limp form. "What happened?" Kal asked Mort as the asari pilot carried Lily across the cargo hold and up the stairs to the third floor.

"Captain's been stunned; we didn't see any sign of our employer's liaison, Kronov." Mort explained, following Nyn.

Kal trailed behind the drell "What about Carn?" he asked as they climbed to the second floor landing.

"Gone." Mort headed up the stairs to the third floor going aft. "And so is the processor."

Kal processed this information as he followed Mort through the door at the top of the stairs, down a hallway running parallel to the cargo bay, and through a door on the left, into the medbay. Like the rest of the ship's interior, the medbay was different from that of a _Normandy_-class ship; it was larger, a high-tech gurney was situated in the center of the room. The walls were lined with cabinets and a several more gurneys were positioned off to the side along with enough medical supplies to make Kal's head spin.

Nyn laid Lily on one of the side gurneys before rushing to a cabinet and grabbing a syringe. Nyn quickly returned to Lily's side and jabbed the needle into her Captain's neck, pressing down on the plunger. Kal approached and noticed that Lily's eyes were open and flicking about rapidly. Her face was frozen in surprise, but Kal could see the fury burning beneath her brown eyes.

"What happened to her?"

"Stun rounds." Nyn stated, her eyes not leaving Lily "I gave her an inoculation to counter the effects but it will be a minute before it takes hold." She finally turned to look at Kal "How's the Hermes?"

Mars' avatar popped up "The geth, Dex, has been very helpful in bypassing restraints on my programing that prevent me for disabling the tracking devices placed throughout the ship." He turned to Kal "I assume that, with Cyan's core now unoccupied, Dex will be taking up residence there?" Did the AI sound… hopeful?

Kal shook his head "No, Dex will be remaining in my suit, he's necessary for several vital functions." When he saw the expression on Mars' avatar fall, Kal added hastily "But I'm sure that Dex would be happy to maintain the connection to the Hermes." Mars' avatar immediately smiled. _Interesting_…

[Are you volunteering me for things without my consent again?]

_Oh like you wouldn't have suggested the same thing._

[Point.]

Mars frowned "So… who will occupy Cyan's old core?"

"Couldn't you link to her core as well as your own?" Kal suggested "You'd be doubling your processing power."

The avatar fidgeted "I guess…"

"Then why not?" Kal asked "If you're worried about any traps Cyan might have left behind, Dex and I can help you scrub the system first."

Nyn spoke up "It's unlike you to be so timid Mars. What's wrong?"

Mars' avatar looked away "Nothing, when should we get started?"

"How… about… you… fill… me… in… first?"

Kal started and spun back to Lily at the sound of her strained voice. She was still lying on her back but she appeared to be able to move her mouth with great difficulty.

"Captain!" Mort exclaimed, rushing to Lily's side "The paralysis is wearing off!"

"Thank you… XO… Obvious…" Lily grunted, her lips twitching into a faint smirk. "What… happened?"

Kal, Nyn, Mort, and Mars quickly filled Lily in on Cyan's betrayal, Kal stopping the drive core from having a meltdown with the aid of the geth in his suit, and Cyan uploading herself to an unknown location. "What happened to you and Carn?" Nyn asked.

Lily sat up; having regained more of her faculties "We met with Kronov as planned and gave him the processor. Then that son of a bitch hit us with stun rounds and dragged Carn off."

"Why?" Mort asked "What could he possibly want with Carn?"

Lily shook her head "I don't know; he _is_ the only human/turian hybrid in existence but other than that I don't have the faintest idea."

"Well, how are we going to get him back?" Kal asked.

Lily sighed, shaking her head "I don't know, we'd have to find Kronov first." Her shoulders slumped "I never should have gotten him involved in this…"

Kal thought for a moment "Tell your dad." He finally suggested "Maybe he can-"

"No."\Lily cut him off, her tone suddenly harsh.

"But they can-"

"No." Lily glared at Kal "If I go running to the Spectres, I'll never live it down. This is my mess, I'll fix it."

Kal sighed "We don't even know where to start looking."

"Aria" Mort said suddenly, snapping his fingers.

Kal shot him a confused look "Huh?"

"Aria sees everything on Omega," Mort supplied "She'll know where Kronov went."

Nyn shook her head "It takes forever to gain an audience with Aria, and I don't like spending any more time in one place than necessary. What if we're discovered?"

"By whom?" Kal asked.

"We've made some enemies in our line of work" Lily said darkly "One of them in particular has been actively hunting for us." She turned to Nyn "Keep an eye out with Mars while Mort, Kal, and I meet with Aria."

"Wait, I'm coming?" Kal stared at Lily, wide-eyed "Now?"

Lily swung her legs of the gurney. "Yes, now. The longer we wait the further away Kronov gets with Carn. I can walk." She said sharply when Mort moved to support her. Lily slid off the gurney and briefly swayed on her feet before steadying and turning to Kal "If you're half as skilled in combat as my dad always said your mom was, we'll need your help."

"That still leaves the question of how you're going to get a meeting with Aria." Nyn pointed out.

Lily merely smiled, "Leave that to me."

…

Aria T'loak, the self-proclaimed Queen of Omega reclined on a chair in her luxurious suite, sipping a glass of asari champagne with olive while looking out the viewport at her domain, her _kingdom_.

"Knock, knock!"

Aria glanced over her shoulder as the door to her suite opened, allowing a human, a quarian, and a drell to enter. Flashing them her most insincere smile, Aria said "Captain Lily Shepard, what a pleasant surprise." She looked back out the viewport, absentmindedly swirling her drink. "I thought we had a mutual arrangement, you stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours." She cocked an eyebrow as Lily stepped into her field of view, her pistols drawn "Did you shoot my guards?"

Lily expertly twirled one of her pistols. "Don't worry, I used stun rounds, they'll live."

Aria pressed her lips into a thin line "Pity."

Lily glared at her "Kronov kidnapped Carn. Where is he?"

Aria laughed "What makes you think I know?"

"A person can't even _breathe_ on Omega without you knowing it." Lily snarled "Now. Where is Kronov?"

Aria studied her drink, swirling it with a finger. "And why should I tell you?"

Lily pointed her pistol at Aria's head "Does _this_ answer your question?"

Aria smiled coolly and pierced the olive in her drink, lifting it up to study it in the light. "You know better than to threaten me 'Little Lil'.' Remember, Omega has only one rule: don't fu-"

_BANG!_

Aria frowned at the small lump that was all that remained of her olive. "I won't ask again." Lily growled "Where. Is. Kronov?"

Aria smirked "My, my, you are _quite_ determined aren't you? I wonder how your parents would react if they knew you were bullying little old me." She looked over her shoulder at the quarian "And I wonder how _your_ mother would react if she knew you weren't _really_ being held against your will Kal'Zorah."

Kal crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Aria beneath his faceplate. "And _I_ wonder how Archangel would react if he knew you were deliberately withholding information on the whereabouts of the man who kidnapped his son."

Aria laughed "Well played Zorah, well played." She turned her gaze back to Lily "Tell you what, you agree to do a little job for me and I'll tell you where Kronov went."

"No way." Lily snarled "Tell us where Kronov is and _maybe_ I won't empty an entire clip into your pretty little head."

Aria eyed Lily darkly "Do you _really_ think I would leave myself so defenseless? The only reason you're still alive is because I don't wish to alienate your father."

Lily growled but slowly holstered her pistols. "Fine, we'll do your little job _after_ we get Carn back.

Aria shook her head "And how do I know you'll do the job once you have what you want? No, you'll do it before."

"By the time we get this job done any information you have will be out of date at best." Mort said sharply.

"Those are my conditions." Aria locked eyes with Lily in a firm stare "Do we have a deal?"

…

"That _bitch_!"

Kal flinched away from Lily's outburst once they were safe on the Hermes. "It could be worse." Mort supplied "She could have told you to steal another Reaper artifact."

It doesn't matter what she _could_ have told me to do!" Lily snapped back.

"I'll take it that the meeting with Aria did not go well then?" Nyn said, emerging from engineering.

"No! It most certainly did NOT!" Lily snapped at Nyn.

"Hey, don't get angry at her!" Mars said, his red avatar appearing next to Nyn.

"She wants us to locate and 'make an example of' some agents of the Shadow Broker, then she'll give us the data." Kal answered. "They seem to have infiltrated her operations."

Nyn shrugged "So what's the big deal?"

"The Shadow Broker happens to be good friends with my father." Lily said darkly.

Mars' avatar's eyes widened "Oh."

"Yeah, do you see the problem?" Lily said "If we alert the Shadow Broker, then my father could learn where we are and send Spectres after us."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Mort said "Right now we need to locate and identify the Broker's agents." He turned to Lily "Captain, with your permission, I'll go back out and begin gathering information."

Lily frowned "I don't know Mort; I don't like the idea of you wandering around Omega on your own.

Mort smiled "I grew up in the lower Wards, Captain. I know my way around the seedier areas."

Lily nodded "Okay, you're right. I'm going to go… do… something…" With that Lily wandered up the stairs to the second floor. After a moment, Nyn followed her and Mort lowered the gangplank to exit the Hermes once more, leaving Kal alone in the cargo hold with Mars' avatar.

After a short pause, Mars suddenly asked "So… we going to get to work on linking me to Cyan's core?"

Kal started "What?"

Mars' avatar shuffled its feet, "You said that you and Dex would help me link with Cyan's old servers in the second AI core, make sure she didn't leave behind any surprises."

[You did say that] Dex added.

Kal nodded "Okay sure," Under Mars' guidance, Kal headed through engineering to Cyan's old AI core. The core looked almost identical to that of the Normandy, albeit slightly smaller. Kal positioned himself in front of the core's console and immediately got to work with Dex. An hour in, Kal and Dex had scrubbed the whole core clean of any and all harmful programs that remained. Once given the all clear, Mars began the process of transferring several of his processes over to the now empty core. As the program code started to flash across the screen Kal's eyes widened. _Dex, are you getting this?_

[Affirmative] Dex replied, his processes working [This could very well explain wht Cyan was needed aboard the Hermes and why Mars was able to disobey the order to terminate us.]

"Is something wrong" Kal jumped at the sound of Mars' voice over the speakers. His avatar appeared in miniature over the console. "I don't have a piece of virtual lettuce stuck between my teeth again do I?"

Kal blinked "What? No! It's just-" he paused "…wait _what_?"

…

Lily looked around Carn's room. His Black Widow sniper rifle was resting on his desk, waiting for him to return and work on it. It had been a birthday present from his father if she remembered correctly, although Carn rarely used it, saying in one of his letters that it had too much kick for his taste, instead opting to use a new Halberd, a rifle designed to lay down suppressing fire in combat not strike down enemies from miles away. A few pictures were also on his desk: Carn and Lily as little kids, Carn and Lily as teenagers, Carn and Mordin, plus a couple pictures of his parents among others.

Lily glanced over at his nightstand where a picture of Anna was reverently placed. Lily had met Anna several times, although she and Carn didn't become an item until after she'd run away. Lily liked Anna, and could see that she and Carn had been made for each other early on. She didn't know what had happened between them recently, but she had a vague feeling Carn's actions in the turian military and Anna's father had something to do with it.

Turning back to the desk, Lily picked up one of the oldest photos; a picture of Carn and Lily at 4 and 7 years old respectively. Lily couldn't help smiling at it; Carn was so happy in the picture, so innocent. The photo had been taken a few weeks before that fateful visit to their great-grandfather's house in Mississippi.

"Captain?" Lily looked up and saw Nyn standing in the doorway to Carn's cabin "Are you alright?"

Lily sighed returned her gaze to the picture "It's my fault Nyn, I never should have dragged him into this."

"Yep."

Lily glared at the asari pilot "You're not very good at the whole comforting thing."

Nyn shrugged "It's the truth, why should I say otherwise?"

Lily didn't have an answer to that. Gingerly, she replaced the picture on the desk. "I was always getting him into trouble, have been since we were kids."

"That's nice Captain," Nyn said blandly "Now if you're done moping-"

Lily cut her off "You know Nyn, you could show a _little_ sympathy."

"You're right, should I let you cry on my shoulder?" Nyn retorted dryly, rolling her eyes "Honestly Captain, get over yourself, moping about won't help Carn."

"We've got nothing else to do until Mort gets back." Lily countered.

Nyn sighed and walked up to Lily, roughly grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the room. "What are you doing?!" Lily demanded.

"Distracting you." Nyn pulled Lily along the corridor, up the stairs in the cargo hold, and down the halls to the pilot's cabin. Once she had Lily in her quarters, Nyn activated her omni-tool and a large holographic screen along one wall activated.

Lily frowned "Where'd you get that? I don't recall you having a holo-screen in your quarters."

"I bought it with my own money," Nyn replied "Now sit down and shut up."

Lily rolled her eyes and sat down on one end of Nyn's couch, across from the holo-screen. After a minute fiddling with the screen, Nyn sat down on the other end of the couch. The screen turned black momentarily before a video started playing, showing a young asari girl with the same skin tone as Nyn laughing as an older asari woman pushed her on a swing. "Higher Ma! Higher!"

The mother laughed and looked at the camera "Are you getting this Nyn?"

"_Yes_ Mom." Nyn's annoyed voice was clearly audible behind the camera, yet there was a trace of amusement in her tone, and something Lily had never heard before: happiness.

Turning to Nyn, Lily asked "What are we watching?"

"An old family video." Nyn said grimly "Taken about 30 years ago."

"30 years?" Lily cocked an eyebrow "I thought you were a smuggling pilot for the past 100?"

Nyn nodded "And I wasn't, doesn't mean I didn't come home every now and then." She gestured to the screen "The girl was my little sister, Phia."

"Was?" Lily felt her stomach sink.

"She and my mother were killed when the Reapers attacked Thessia." Nyn stated, her voice hollow.

Lily took this in "And your father? I don't think I've ever heard you mention him."

"A krogan, he died fighting on Palaven during the Reaper War." Nyn said, her voice neutral "I fought in the Battle of Earth you know."

"Really?" Lily never knew that.

Nyn nodded "Yeah, it was chaos. You could barely even see Earth, the space around it was so thick with ships and wreckage." Nyn tapped her omni-tool and the video changed to a more familiar setting.

"Hey! I remember this!" Lily said, straightening up.

The video was clearly taken from an omni-tool and showed Lily raising a bottle of beer in the lounge. "A toast!" the Lily on the screen said "To a job well done!"

Next to Lily stood an all-too-familiar salarian "Captain," he jittered "The mission is still unfinished. Aren't we celebrating a bit prematurely?"

Lily slung an arm over the salarian's thin shoulders. "Relax Noclak, all that's left is the delivery. We just pulled off the salvage operation of the century! I think that warrants celebration!"

Off-screen, Nyn snorted "I hardly call nabbing some genetic data from an old Exo-Geni facility 'the salvage operation of the century'."

Mort's voice spoke from behind the camera "Come on Nyn, Feros isn't exactly friendly."

"Shooting some wild animals to get a few megabytes of data does not an impressive make." Nyn countered.

"NONSENSE!" Lily cried heroically.

On the couch, Lily smiled at the video "This was one of our first missions." she said, nostalgic. Lily glanced over at Nyn and saw her eyes go hard as, on the screen, Lily laughed with Noclak. Gently, Lily slid over and put her arm around Nyn "It's alright," she whispered softly "I miss him too."

…

John hesitated outside the door. The small house was in a quaint little community on Eden Prime, remote so its occupant would not be disturbed by unwanted visitors. John had come here seeking an old friend. True he could have just called, but a quick trip away from the Citadel would be a nice change of pace. He'd taken the Normandy so that if anything did come up, he would be able to communicate with his Spectres easily.

Taking a deep breath, John knocked on the door. A middle-aged human woman in a nurse outfit answered. John smiled "Hello Amanda, is Steven home?"

The nurse eyed him suspiciously "Mr. Hackett is not seeing visitors at the moment."

From deeper inside the house, an elderly voice said "It's alright Amanda, let him in."

Reluctantly, the nurse stepped aside and allowed John to step through the doorway, habitually resting some of his weight on his cane. John walked deeper into the house until he finally reached the Living room, where an old man in baggy clothes sat in a chair, looking out the window at the garden behind the house. Admiral Steven Hackett, former President of the Alliance for a record 16 years after the Reaper War, had certainly done his best to fight of the ravages of time. His voice, while notably older was as strong as it had been the day he first gave John orders. His face was more sunken in, and the bags beneath his eyes far more pronounced. The scar beneath his left eye stood out in sharp contrast to his pale skin, yet despite his body's deteriorating condition, the man still managed to hold himself firm, just like a soldier.

Hackett turned his head to look at John as his former subordinate sat down in a chair across from him. "John, what do I owe this visit?"

The Commander shrugged "Can't a man just visit an old friend?"

Hackett's lips twitched in his approximation of a smile. "I suppose so. But the way I hear it you're very busy these days. I'm surprised you took the time to come all the way out here."

John shrugged "I figured a change of scenery would do me good. The Citadel gets pretty boring."

Hackett nodded in agreement, looking back out at the garden. They sat together in comfortable silence for several minutes. Finally, Hackett spoke up "Retirement doesn't suit me."

John chuckled "You seem to be doing pretty well so far."

Hackett snorted "Perhaps."

John looked out at the garden "Don't feel too bad, you could be trapped in political hell like me."

"You could always retire." Hackett pointed out "Nobody would begrudge you some rest. Not after everything you've done."

John smirked "And let all that I've worked for come apart at the seams?" John shook his head "The peace I've created is still too fragile, the galaxy needs me."

Hackett looked back at John "You do realize that it is only a matter of time before the galaxy goes to war again? Peace never lasts forever."

John shrugged "Yeah, but if I can keep things calm for a couple decades then I'll die a happy man." His expression fell "Granted I probably only have a few more years left at best."

Hackett nodded in sympathy. The two old soldiers sat together for a long time, never really speaking, reflecting on their own mortality.

**A/N: God that ending was abrupt. I honestly did not expect Hackett to be so hard to write. I really feel like I didn't do him justice.**

**Okay, I know I always ask for feedback, but I don't just mean the typical "I love this!" review. Don't get me wrong, it warms my heart whenever I see that someone is enjoying my story, but this fic isn't just about entertainment. I want to tackle some serious topics in this story, such as the morality of genetic engineering, the family dynamic, the awareness of your own mortality, finding your place in the universe, and the relationship between destiny and free will. **

**So that's why I am serious when I say that I NEED constructive criticism. I want you to point out the flaws in my writing, and how I can improve so that this story will have the best chance of success. I WILL listen to you, and while I might try to justify some things that I did intentionally, I AM open to alternatives and would like to hear your suggestions. **

**Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to building my bunker to hide in when the cicadas get here.**


	7. The Matriarch

**A/N: Guess who just graduated! I don't know why but it feels like ages since I last updated. Hopefully I can put out faster updates now that school's over, provided of course that my summer job doesn't take too much of my time. Also, who else saw the new Dragon Age: Inquisition trailer? *flails happily***

7: Matriarch

_Alice glanced at her brother as the shuttle flew over the green lands of rural Mississippi "Are you sure this is a good idea, John?"_

_He sighed "You heard Mom, Grandpa is terminally ill; he only has a few months left at the most. He wants to make peace with his family before he dies." John smiled "And meet his great-grandchildren." He glanced back at the main cabin where Lily was playing with Carn "Regardless of what species they are."_

_Alice sighed and, after a moment of silence said "Do you remember those visits we would take to the plantation at Easter?"_

_John chuckled "Yeah, Dad always griped about how much he hated those trips but the house was so fun to look for eggs in that we demanded we have Easter there for _years_." he glanced back at Ashley who was reading to a 3-year-old David. "At least it's just Carn with us. I don't think Grandpa's heart could take it if we introduced him to Mordin. You're sure Chakwas will be okay watching the little runt?"_

_Alice nodded "I'm sure, Mordin adores Chakwas, and worst comes to worst I have Grunt on standby. They'll be fine."_

"_Mommy?" Alice looked down to see Carn tugging on her pant leg "Are we going to visit Nana and Papi?"_

_Alice smiled; Nana and Papi were what the kids called Alice and John's grandparents on their father's side, Kate and Joseph Debroux. "No sweetie, we're visiting your great-grandpa Alan." _

"_Grandma will be there too." John added, smiling when Carn's eyes lit up._

"_We should be there soon." Garrus said from the cockpit "It's just a little farther."_

"_Thank God." Ashley said "I don't think I can keep David distracted much longer."_

_When the shuttle finally did land, David wiggled free of his mother's arms to join his sister and cousin at the shuttle doors as they opened to reveal… "GRANDMA!" John, Alice, and Ashley all laughed as David shrieked in delight and raced into Hannah's waiting arms._

_Hannah laughed and picked David up, making a show of grunting as she did so. "Wow…" she said lightly, pretending to be out of breath "You're getting so big! Soon I won't be able to pick you up at all!"_

_David shook his head "Nuh, uh!_

_Hannah nodded back "Uh, huh!" She put David down and hugged both Carn and Lily before greeting her children and their spouses. "He's waiting inside," she said, leading them toward the small plantation's large white manor._

_Inside the entry hall, a shriveled old man sat in a hoverchair. Alan smiled when he saw them. He greeted each of his great-grandchildren, frowning a moment when he saw Carn but quickly replacing it with a genuine smile when the young hybrid ran up to the old man and did his best to hug him. Overall, the first day of their visit went smoothly. Alan was friendly, and even seemed to approve of Garrus somewhat. He laughed when David's undeveloped biotics flared up while he, Carn, and Lily were playing together, accidentally knocking over a vase, or when the kids played hide-and-seek through the manor. He seemed delighted to learn that Ashley was General Williams' granddaughter, revealing that he and the General had attended the Academy at the same time. Finally, too early for the kids' liking, the sun had set, they had eaten dinner, and it was time to go to bed. Once each of the children had been settled into their individual rooms, the adults all sat down in the living room, and Alan's demeanor became much more serious._

"_I'll admit, part of me had hoped you wouldn't have brought Carn with you." He said gravely._

_John frowned at his grandfather's comment "What do you mean?"_

_Alan looked out the dark window "I neglected to mention in my message for fear that you wouldn't come if you knew but…" he turned his gaze to look at Alice "There've been some rumblings in the area about a group of anti-alien extremists taking root in the area."_

_Garrus growled "Let me guess: they're not exactly fond of the idea of a human/turian hybrid?"_

_Alan nodded and Alice leaned forward, her tone calm but her eyes hard "You should have said something Grandpa."_

"_I thought that you wouldn't have come if you knew." Alan said sadly "I'm too sick to travel, and I wanted to make peace with my family before I joined my wife. It shouldn't be an issue as long as Carn stays under supervision."_

_Hannah frowned, "That's going to be harder than you think Dad."_

…

Carn was, needless to say, speechless. Sara looked to be a few years younger than Carn, maybe 18 years old at the most. Her plates were the same dark color as Alec's skin and she had the same mix of human and turian traits as Carn, except for the fact that she was female, and thus had female parts such as the short fringe of female turians and (admittedly small) human breasts.

Sara fidgeted under Carn's disbelieving stare "Um… hello?"

Alec chuckled "I think you broke him, sis."

Carn blinked, snapping out of his daze "Sorry, it's just… well… I've never seen another human/turian hybrid before…"

Erin smiled sympathetically and stood up "If you're feeling up to it we can show you around our module."

Carn hesitated for a moment before nodding, throwing off the covers and climbing out of the bed "Yeah, alright."

The module Erin, Alec, and Sara lived in was small and simple. It had four bedrooms, each with an extra-net terminal with limited access. There was a common room with a couch, a vid screen, a table, and some chairs along with a large viewport that looked out into the swirling cloud of a nebula. There was only one door out of the module, and it was locked. According to Erin and Alec, they normally were allowed to leave the module whenever they wanted. The station was divided into sectors, each with about two dozen modules. Each sector contained a cafeteria, a large exercise room, a few classrooms, and other areas for recreation where they could interact with the other hybrids.

"So why is it locked now?" Carn asked.

Erin blushed, "We… might have started a fight in the cafeteria a few days ago."

Carn gave her a curious look "What happened?"

Alec was the one who answered "This guy, Bak, a krogan/turian hybrid-"

Carn's eyes widened "A _krogan/turian_?!"

Alec nodded "Yep. Anyways, he started picking on Sara. Now, _nobody_ picks on my little sis, so naturally I taught him a lesson."

Erin glared at him incredulously "He would have beaten you to a pulp if me and Sara hadn't stepped in!"

"I could take him." Alec shot back.

"You were crying like a baby!"

"_Anyways_," Alec said quickly "The guards broke up the fight and Erin, Sara, Bak, and I got confined to our modules for a week. The guards bring us our meals and stuff, but we can't leave for the next few days."

Carn turned stare out the window at the nebula, the swirling dark violet and indigo cloud seemed to obscure the stars. "So… let me get this straight." He said after a minute, turning back to the other hybrids "You were all born here, grew up here, have never even seen a _glimpse_ of the galaxy beyond except for on the extra-net, and you're _okay_ with that?"

Alec shrugged "It's not that bad, except for… well…"

"What?" Carn insisted when Alec fell silent.

"Harvesting." Erin finished with a grimace "Once a year they extract a sample of our DNA. The process is… not pleasant."

Carn glanced at Sara; she'd remained silent since her initial greeting and was shyly avoiding his gaze. "Haven't you ever tried to escape?" he asked.

Alec snorted, his four eyes simultaneously rolling "And go where? Even if we could get past the guards the only way off this station is when the Matriarch docks, and that place is a flying fortress."

Carn frowned "What's the Matriarch?"

Erin opened her mouth to answer but immediately shut it again and just pointed out the window. Carn turned to look back out the viewport and felt his jaw hit the floor. Emerging from the swirling haze like a phantom was the largest ship he'd ever seen. The engine of the ship was a large central halo of asari-make. Four long arms branched off from the halo at right angles, each of them constructed in a three-sided pyramid that jutted far in front of the halo at 90 degrees like a maw waiting to swallow Carn whole.

"_That's_ the Matriarch." Erin said.

Carn watched as the massive leviathan drew closer, growing larger and larger until it took up nearly the entire window. Eventually, the dreadnought passed out of the window's view, leaving a gaping void behind. Shaking himself out of his shock, Carn turned to the other hybrids "Who the _fuck_ is in charge here?"

To his surprise, it was Sara who answered "Vilvia."

"Who is she?" Carn pressed.

"An asari who enjoys playing with genetics," Alec said with a shrug.

"Why?" Carn asked "Why would she even bother creating hybrids? What purpose could we possibly serve? And where the hell did she get the technology to do this anyways?"

Erin shook her head "Your guess is as good as ours."

"She's just some batty old hag with way too much time and money on her hands." Alec added.

Carn sat down, his thoughts racing a mile a minute. Finally, he asked "Are you sure there isn't another way off this station?"

"We've only left our sector for our Harvesting." Erin said "If there is, we haven't seen it."

Before Carn could ask any more questions the locked door out of the module suddenly opened. Carn snarled when he saw Kronov framed in the doorway, flanked by a fully armored krogan and turian. Kronov's mandibles flared in a cruel smile "You're awake. Good, Lady Vilvia wishes to speak with you."

Carn tensed, readying himself for a fight "I'm not going anywhere with you." He growled darkly.

Kronov chuckled, a harsh sound that grated on his ears "You say that like it was a request." He stepped to the side and allowed the krogan behind him to march through the door. Alec grabbed Sara and pulled her back towards the bedrooms while Erin and moved closer to Carn.

"Don't fight," she whispered to him "You'll just get hurt."

Carn reluctantly had to admit she was right, he was good in hand-to-hand, but there was no way he stood a chance going up directly against a krogan. So when the krogan roughly grabbed him by the arm, he didn't resist as he was dragged out of the module. With the krogan pulling him along, and the human keeping an assault rifle trained on his head, Carn was led behind Kronov down a long series of sterile white halls, passing numerous doors along the way. Eventually, Kronov led him into an airlock and, once it had completely cycled, they stepped through into a drastically different series of corridors.

"Welcome aboard the Matriarch." Kronov said smugly.

The Matriarch's halls were a mess, they were much more cramped than those of the station, the lights were a harsh white that made Carn squint, and the walls were missing, revealing the massive circuitry and intricate inner workings of the dreadnought. Kronov and the guards led Carn through maze of the cluttered halls, taking so many twists and turns that Carn couldn't help but wonder if they were lost.

After several minutes of navigating the halls and lifts, they came to a large set of doors. Kronov keyed the panel to open the doorway, revealing nothing but darkness beyond. Carn was shoved into the dark room behind Kronov as the turian gave a little bow to the darkness. "Lady Vilvia, I have brought you the Vakarian boy."

"Leave us." A cool, silky female voice echoed from the blackness. Kronov bowed again and left, shutting the door behind him and plunging Carn into darkness.

Looking around, Carn couldn't see any sign of this Vilvia, only black. Finally, a small point of light appeared high above him. Carn watched in wonder as the light grew larger until it was twice the size of his head, then, without warning, the light splintered apart into hundreds of smaller points of light. The stars -that's what they were, Carn realized- swirled around the room, revealing its shape to be a large dome constructed from midnight black tiles. The stars flowed around him, some gathering into clusters while others spread out. As the stars danced, Carn noticed a shape in the darkness, indiscernible in the meager light. Behind the shape a large number of stars were spiraling together in the center of the room, forming a galaxy. Suddenly, all movement slowed to a halt, with only the newly formed galaxy continuing its spin.

The glow of the stars brightened and Carn could finally make out the figure. Leaning back in a chair behind an elegant desk, her hands folded on her lap, was an asari in a simple silver silk dress; Vilvia. Carn had to admit he was surprised at her appearance. After the grand display, he'd been expecting her to be either terrifyingly deformed or ravishingly beautiful, with breasts the size of melons that were barely contained in one of those absurdly skimpy dresses asari like. Instead, she was fairly average in appearance, average height, average build, average breasts with not an ounce of cleavage showing, everything about her was just _average_. Hell, she could have been a schoolteacher for all he knew. The only thing unique about her was her skin; it was a deathly pale blue, almost grey.

Vilvia smiled warmly at him. "Hello Carn."

Instantly Carn was captivated. Her voice was so mesmerizing, so enthralling, that the words seemed to dance off her tongue and caress his ears with every letter. The syllables would stroke down one's spine, sending shivers racking throughout the body as unvoiced words whispered sweet promises to the soul. Carn could think of only one other person who could match her prowess: Uncle John.

The floor in front of her desk became fluid, rising up and changing shape like water, solidifying into the form of a hard armchair, its color shifting from black to brown, taking on a wooden texture. Vilvia gestured to the newly-formed chair. "Please," she said cordially "Sit.

In a daze, Carn walked forward and complied. Her smile vanished and Vilvia studied him for several moments, causing Carn to fidget in his seat, feeling uncomfortably like a bad kid about to be scolded by the principal (a feeling he was all too familiar with thanks to Lily).

Finally, Vilvia smiled again "Well look at you," she said, her beautiful voice nostalgic "All grown up and everything!" Carn forced himself to meet her gaze and flinched, her sharp blue eyes cutting right through him. Vilvia continued to smile warmly at him "Why, I remember when you just a little baby! Oh, and you were so cute as a toddler too!"

Carn snarled "You've been stalking me?"

Vilvia recoiled, looking hurt "_Stalking_ you? No! Can't a mother keep an eye on her own child?"

Carn's blood ran cold "My mother in Alice Vakarian, not_ you_!"

Vilvia smiled knowingly "Maybe biologically, but I had a hand in creating you just as surely as she did." She leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand "But that's enough about that, tell me about yourself!"

"Why the fuck would I do that?" Carn replied sharply.

Vilvia chuckled "Why for my research! You're the first of my creations to be exposed to the galaxy. I want to know what that's been like."

"Go to hell," Carn growled; he wasn't telling this bitch anything.

Vilvia's smile instantly vanished. "Very well," without warning restraints shot out of the armrests of Carn's chair and wrapped themselves around his wrists. Carn struggled in vain to free himself as Vilvia rose from her chair, the desk separating them liquefying and melting away into the floor. Her expression was cold and impassive as she said darkly "I guess I will just have to get the information myself."

With that her hand shot out and grabbed his head. Her eyes turned into black holes, her voice as dark, cold, and unforgiving as the void of space.

"_Embrace Eternity_."

…

Carn didn't remember that the beginning of that fateful summer night 14 years ago very well. On the third day of their visit to Mississippi, Lily, David, and Carn had gone on a hike through the woods surrounding the old Shepard plantation with their parents. They had come across an old abandoned structure in the middle of the woods, Uncle John telling them how it had been the plantation's original manor, but had been sacked and abandoned during the First American Civil War. Lily had wanted to go inside but the grown-ups had forbidden it, stating that it wasn't safe.

That night, when everyone had gone to sleep, Lily had snuck into Carn's room and convinced him to go with her to find the ruin again so they could explore it. They had crept out of the manor, avoiding the security system in place around the plantation and did their best to find their way back to the ruin with a flashlight, but soon got lost. Things only got worse from there.

Carn never knew exactly what those anti-alien radicals were doing out in the woods surrounding the plantation. Maybe they had been staking the place out, intending to raid the plantation when they could find an opportunity. It didn't matter; he and Lily had been discovered by a small scouting party and were dragged off to a clearing somewhere filled with the radicals.

That's when the nightmare began…

"Let me go!" Carn shrieked as rough hands brutally dragged him into the center of the radicals near the base of a tree.

"Don't touch him!" Lily struggled against the radical holding her captive. "You hurt him and I'll… I'll kill you all!"

One of the radicals laughed and hit Lily, knocking her to the ground "Ya' couldn' hurt nobody ya' alien-loving brat!" the radical started kicking Lily on the ground.

Carn screamed and clawed at his captors "Stop it! Leave Lily alone!"

He cried out as someone punched him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. "Shut the fuck up ya' freak!"

The radicals kicked and punched Carn, taunting him and spitting in his face. Carn felt someone roughly grab his wrists and tie them behind his back while someone else tied a rope tightly over his neck. He felt himself starting to be lifted into the air by the noose, the rope slowly started to tighten around his throat, crushing his windpipe. Terror griped him as breathing became more and more difficult. His senses were starting to dull, the cheering of the radicals turning into a faint echo. He searched for Lily but all he could see was a mass of blurry figures. His vision went dark around the edges and Carn started to sink into oblivion.

Then, there was a sound like a thunderclap and without warning Carn fell to the ground, landing in a heap. He lay there, struggling back from the brink of darkness, taking deep, savory breaths. A strong, calming voice boomed through the darkness. "Step away from my daughter and nephew please."

Carn heard someone snarl "You're that alien-loving bastard that-"

_BANG!_

Several people shrieked as there was the thud of a body hitting the ground. "Perhaps you didn't hear me. I said: step away."

Another person spoke up "You can't just-"

_BANG!_

More screams followed another thud. "I'm a Spectre, I can do whatever I want, and I doubt anyone will miss a bunch of racist fucks like you. Now, I won't tell you again. Step. Away."

Carn heard the sound of several people running as fast as they could. After several seconds, a pair of firm yet gentle hands started to shake him. "Carn, Carn are you alright?"

Carn's vision finally swam back into focus as he looked at his savior "Uncle Johnny…?"

John smiled "Hey kiddo," he activated his omni-tool "Alice, Garrus, Ashley, I've found them. I'm transmitting to you my coordinates. Send the shuttle, they're a little shaken up." There was a muffled confirmation as John shut off his omni-tool. "Come on Carn, let's get these ropes off of you."

While John's fingers undid the knots, Carn looked around and noticed that Lily was sitting off to the side, a little bruised. She briefly met Carn's eyes and bowed her head in shame. As soon as John had managed to free him, Carn wrapped his arms tightly around his uncle, catching him off-guard. After a moment, John gently hugged the little hybrid back. Tired and overwhelmed by what had just happened, Carn began to cry into his uncle's shoulder.

John rubbed Carn's back, whispering soothingly in his ear "Shh… it's alright, you're safe now…"

…

Several hours later, after they had returned to the manor Carn lay in his bed, unable to fall asleep. He felt the mattress dip as someone sat down next to him. Looking up, Carn saw Lily's tear-soaked face. "What's wrong?" he asked, sitting up.

"You almost died tonight because of me." Lily choked out, unable to look him in the eye.

Carn shook his head "It wasn't your fault."

Lily gave him a surprised look "But…"

Carn shook his head "It wasn't your fault. I _wanted_ to go with you." Lily still looked unconvinced. Thinking back to something he remembered Uncle John saying once to his father, Carn stuck out his hand, palm facing Lily, fingers spread wide, and said for the first time "No Shepard without Vakarian."

Lily's lips twitched into a smile and she pressed her hand against Carn's, interlacing their fingers. "No Shepard without Vakarian."

_Aww… How sweet… I wonder what else is buried in here…_

_Like hell bitch! Get… out… of… my… HEAD!_

There was a shriek and the memory shattered, hurling Carn back to the present. When his vision returned, Carn saw that Vilvia had recoiled. She was now clutching her hand as though burned and was looking at him in shock. Quickly regaining her composure, Vilvia straightened up and smiled at Carn. "Impressive, you managed to throw me from your mind, I'll admit, I didn't expect that."

"I don't like people rooting around my head." Carn growled.

Vilvia shook her head "So rebellious. I'd heard about your… _issues_ with authority."

Carn instantly knew what she was referring to. "Shut up."

Vilvia's knowing smile grew as turned around to examine the galaxy spinning behind her. When she had remained this way for several minutes, Carn asked "What do you want with me?"

There was a pause before Vilvia answered in that enchanting voice. "Have you ever wondered how, or even _why_ you were created?"

Carn hesitated before answering, caught off-guard by the sudden question. "It may have crossed my mind. You used Reaper tech right?"

Vilvia turned back to him, that knowing smile still on her lips "Some, most of the Reaper tech I acquired from the Collectors." Her eyes glinted "Many were the defense codes for human colonies that I traded in exchange for technology, and before that I had a healthy business relationship with them already. They were very interested in my _experiments_."

If Carn could have burned Vilvia alive with his glare, she would have been nothing but a pile of ashes. Vilvia merely laughed at this "Of course, practice makes perfect, you were hardly the first human/turian hybrid I created."

After everything else he had learned today, this didn't surprise Carn nearly as much as Vilvia had clearly hoped it would. Still, he had one question "Why was I allowed to remain free?"

"You were an experiment," Vilvia explained "I let you go because I wanted to see how the galaxy would react to one of my creations." Vilvia's smile broadened "I must say, you certainly did not disappoint."

"But you _didn't_ let me go." Carn retorted "My dad, uncle, aunt, grandfather, and the Normandy crew rescued me and my mom from your goons."

Vilvia laughed "_Really_? Haven't you ever wondered why, when your mother went into labor, she was conveniently rescued? I _planned_ it all."

_That_ certainly did shock Carn. "But… your men on the station tried to stop them! My grandfather even died opening the hanger doors so they could escape!"

Vilvia scoffed "Of course, I had to make a show of putting up _some_ resistance, otherwise they would have grown suspicious. I knew that my men would not be able to defeat them, although I did not anticipate your namesake to sacrifice his life. Kronov was severely punished for disobeying my orders."

Carn's eyes narrowed "Are you telling me…?"

"That Kronov killed your grandfather?" Vilvia finished. "Actually, your grandfather killed himself. I'm sure you've noticed Kronov's cybernetics? Those are thanks to your grandfather detonating a grenade right next to him. He's over 70% synthetic now, even his plates are artificial."

Carn let this information sink in. While he had never known his namesake, he'd always held a certain admiration for his grandfather. It was hard not to, considering how he gave his life so that Carn would live. Now that he was learning it had been pointless really, Carn didn't know what to think. He did take some grim satisfaction in knowing that Kronov's deformities were caused by his grandfather however.

Regardless, he still had a lot of questions. "Why are you creating hybrids?" he demanded "What could you possibly have to gain?"

Vilvia scoffed "I hardly expect you to understand."

"Try me," Carn shot back "You might be surprised."

Vilvia studied him for a moment "Very well, I see no harm in sating your curiosity." She started pacing back and forth in front of him "For over 700 years, I have been working to create the perfect lifeform. A species with all the strengths of the galaxy's strongest races, and none of the weaknesses. Asari biotics, turian agility, salarian intelligence, quarian ingenuity, krogan regeneration, all combined into one form. I had almost succeeded, but then humanity showed up on the galactic scene."

She stopped pacing and stepped closer to Carn, leaning down so that their faces were inches apart "Did you know that the reason the Reapers chose humanity as the building blocks for the next Reaper was not actually their genetic diversity. Humans actually aren't all that more diverse than the other races, no doubt thanks to several bottleneck points in your species history. One of them has even developed into a legend across multiple cultures. I believe you would call it 'Noah's Ark'?" she smirked, leaning back "Regardless, the reason the Reapers choose humanity, was their _adaptability_. Humans are more likely to think outside the box than any other race, they can change direction at a moment's notice, and you can never truly predict what they'll do next. Sure each race is like this to some extent, they'd have to be in order to become sentient, but humans are adaptation personified. Their rapid climb up the galactic ladder is evidence of this. When I learned about humanity, I realized I must add them to the gene pool, if I was to make the perfect race."

"So why only combine the races two at a time?" Carn asked.

"Hybridization is a very slow process." Vilvia explained "It takes countless trial and error to get right, and then you need to observe your creations throughout their lives, ensure that nothing goes wrong. I needed to make sure that each of the races were compatible with one another before I started combining them."

"But what point would creating a perfect lifeform serve?" Carn asked, "There's no reason for it!"

Vilvia smiled, turning away from him "That's where you're wrong." She held up her hand, creating a small singularity in her palm. "Do you know how I first got into genetic engineering?" without waiting for a reply she continued "I originally just wanted a way to cure myself of my… condition."

A light lit up in Carn's brain "You're an Ardat-Yakshi."

"I _was_ an Ardat-Yakshi." Vilvia corrected, turning around to face him again. "I managed to 'cure' myself, although I'm afraid the sterility is permanent."

"Then why not share the cure with the galaxy?" Carn asked "You could have saved millions of people, done a lot of good."

Vilvia rolled her eyes "Typical, only thinking in the short-term. How naïve. During my work, I realized something interesting about my species."

"What?"

"We're genetically flawed." She stated, "I saw that we were a broken race, barely clinging on to our own survival, and as I realized this, I saw that the same was true of all the other races." There was a strange glint in her eyes, something that scared Carn shitless. "I grew disgusted with the galaxy. How could we possibly hope to sustain our civilization when we were barely better than animals? I realized that the galaxy needed something better. A 'Master Race' if you will." She was definitely ranting now. "We don't deserve to hold the mantle of civilization! All the galaxy's races are inferior beings, that don't deserve the blessed gift of intelligence! I decided then and there that I would fix this problem!" She flung her arms wide, shouting to the heavens like a prophet. "I would create a race better than any other that has existed before! A race that would SEIZE the galaxy, and bring us ALL into a NEW AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT!"

Silence fell upon the cavernous room like a flood, Vilvia merely standing there, keeping her dramatic pose. Finally, Carn cleared his throat. "I think you might want to see a doctor. You seem a little unhinged."

Vilvia looked at Carn in shock, like she was unable to comprehend why he wasn't agreeing with her. She quickly regained her composure, letting her arms fall to her sides and flashing a small, sympathetic smile. "I said you wouldn't understand."

"That's because you're _crazy_!"

Vilvia laughed "All great visionaries were once considered insane. I am no different." She snapped her fingers and Carn looked over his shoulder to see the door open to let in Kronov and the two guards who escorted him here. "Kronov, take our guest to the lab for his first Harvesting."

Carn's blood ran cold as the two guards roughly grabbed him by the arms and pulled him free of the chair. "Harvesting? What are you talking about?"

Vilvia smiled "Ah yes, I forgot to mention we routinely require your genetic material to be cloned and, ah, _processed_. Unfortunately, the procedure is quite painful." She raised her hand and wiggled her fingers in farewell "Have fun."

Carn snarled as he was dragged out of the room. As soon as the guards had pulled him through the door, Carn acted. He quickly lashed out with his foot to the back of the turian guard's leg, knocking him off his feet and freeing Carn from his grip. Not giving the other guard time to react, Carn quickly spun around and kicked the krogan in the balls as hard as he could. _A krogan's one weakness: groin shots. Thank God and Spirits he's not wearing armor._ The krogan doubled over, releasing Carn, freeing him to send a fist into Kronov's good mandible before the turian could act, sending the cyborg reeling. As fast as he could, Carn turned and dashed down the hall after delivering a swift kick to the turian guard's head as he tried to get up. He heard Vilvia cry "After him!" just as alarms started to blare throughout the ship.

Carn flew through the narrow corridors, his mostly turian legs lending him tremendous speed. _Have to find a hanger._ Carn thought as he ran. _Or maybe a communications room, if I can't escape I might be able to get a message out to dad or Lily or-_ He rounded a corner and skidded to a halt a foot from the shut door, its activation panel red. _Damnit!_

"About damn time that AI got off his lazy ass and did something." Carn spun around to see Kronov back the way he'd come, leisurely striding towards him, a stun-pistol in his hand. He raised the gun, "Now, are we gonna' do this the hard way, or the harder way?"

In a flash, Carn dashed forward, closing the distance between him and Kronov. Faster than lightning, he sent a kick to Kronov's hand, knocking the pistol from his grip. Before he could follow through however, the turian kicked him in the chest, hurling him back against the door. Kronov's mandibles spread into a vicious grin. "Harder way it is then." Without warning, Kronov charged Carn, throwing a fist straight to his throat.

Reacting instinctively, Carn ducked beneath the punch, his eyes going wide when he saw the fist smash through the door right where his head had been moments before. _Strength augmentation cybernetics. Crap_. Carn quickly sent a kick to Kronov's chest, sending his opponent staggering back a few steps. Kronov snarled and aimed another punch at Carn. He dodged the blow, but ran right into the knee Kronov had aimed for his gut. Crying out, Carn ducked beneath Kronov's next punch and slipped past him, delivering a quick jab to Kronov's ribs as he did so. Kronov spun to back towards Carn, his leg swinging in a spur kick. Carn ducked beneath the kick and rose to punch Kronov in the jaw. The turian cyborg rolled with the blow and used his momentum to send an uppercut right into Carn's chin, knocking him back.

Carn rubbed his jaw and spat out some blood from when he'd accidentally bitten his tongue because of the uppercut. "You're not half bad." Kronov remarked as they circled one another.

Carn grinned "I'm the son of one of the best turian hand-to-hand combat specialists in the galaxy, I'd be an embarrassment to my dad if I couldn't hold my own in a fight."

Kronov's eyes- especially the creepy red cybernetic one- gleamed "That's funny, from you're lack of colony paint, I'd have thought that you already _were_ an embarrassment to your father." His malicious grin grew "Is that why you were with 'Lil''? Because daddy was disappointed his little boy couldn't meet his expectations?"

Carn growled angrily, his temper flaring to life. _Calm down Carn, he's just trying to get under your skin._ Kronov wasn't finished however.

"Or maybe you're running away because you feel guilty about killing your commander in the turian military?"

Something inside Carn snapped. His vision clouded blood red and a feral roar that ripped the very air asunder with its fury ripped from his chest. Knowing only his rage, Carn charged Kronov. His blows were wild and furious, yet somehow Kronov managed to block or dodge them all which only served to enrage Carn more. Then, like a thunderclap, Kronov's fist made contact with Carn's head. Knocked out of his anger by the shock of the blow, Carn was stunned just long enough to see Kronov's other fist flying towards his head before darkness claimed him…

When he regained consciousness, Carn found himself strapped into some sort of strange pod. Outside, he could see Kronov fiddling with a nearby console. Carn snarled and struggled against his restraints, the noise causing Kronov to look up. The cyborg smirked at him "Well look who's awake."

"Let me out of here you coward!" Carn growled.

Kronov merely continued smirking and pressed a button on the console. Suddenly, pain rocked through Carn's whole body. He clenched his jaw to stop the scream, he wouldn't give Kronov the satisfaction. Carn felt like his very cells were being torn apart and melted down, the burning was unbearable, he had never been in so much pain. Finally, Carn couldn't hold back anymore and opened his mouth to scream.

…

Erin paced back and forth in the module's common room. "Will you sit down?" Alec said, irritated "You've been wearing a rut in the floor for the past hour."

"Carn's been gone for too long." Erin stated "He should have been back by now."

"Relax," Alec said casually "He's probably getting his first Harvesting."

Erin froze, looking at Alec in horror before resuming her pacing more frantically than before. After several more minutes, the door to the module opened and Carn was unceremoniously dumped on the floor by the two guards from earlier, both notably grumpier. As soon as the door closed again, Erin rushed to Carn's side. He was barely conscious, trembling and muttering incoherently.

"Carn?" Erin said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder only to withdraw it immediately when he flinched from her touch. Erin turned to Alec, who was merely staring at Carn in shock, all four eyes wide. "Alec, help me get him to his bed."

With his help, Erin picked Carn up and together with Alec, carried him to his room. Sara stood silently off to the side, watching them with wide eyes. Erin and Alec were able to carefully lay Carn down on the mattress without too much trouble. Erin placed a hand on Carn's cheek when he continued to tremble "Shh… it's alright…" She said soothingly, activating a light mind meld, brushing his consciousness with her own and emitting comforting thoughts. Carn soon stopped shaking and relaxed into her touch. As she felt him drift off to sleep, Erin saw Carn's eyes open briefly and meet hers, conveying a simple message without words:

_Thank you._

**A/N: Well then, that was certainly longer than I expected. Still, I hope I was able to answer several of your questions with this chapter. Feedback is, as always, appreciated.**


	8. Secrets and Subterfuge

**A/N: I didn't realize how long this chapter would be.**

**It also occurs to me that I've been focusing more on Carn's relationship with John than his relationship with his own parents. Starting now I'm hoping to change that.**

8: Secrets and Subterfuge

Beep!

_Alice looked down at her omni-tool as it signaled she had a call. She had been in the kitchen, preparing lunch for herself. Alice grew worried when she saw that it was the elementary school Carn and Mordin attended with Lily and David. Was something wrong? She quickly answered the call, praying that Mordin and Carn were alright. "Hello?"_

_A firm female voice answered__** "Hello, Mrs. Vakarian, this is the Principal, Dr. Navossa. I'm calling about your son Carn."**_

"_Is everything alright?" She asked, concerned._

"_**I need you to come to the office, your son has been involved in a fight."**_

_Alice frowned at this. Carn? In a fight? It was only his second week of first grade. "I'll be right over." She hung up and quickly made her way out of the apartment to the car. She made it to the school within five minutes, and after finding a parking place, quickly strode towards the front entrance._

"_Hey Alice!" she turned to see John jogging up to join her. "You get called too?"_

"_Yeah, Carn was in a fight." She answered as they entered the building._

"_Huh," John said thoughtfully, "Lily was in a fight too. We should have carpooled. Maybe next time."_

"_There better not_ be_ a next time." Alice replied. _

_They entered the school's main office, manned by a salarian secretary who waved them through to the principal's office. Inside, an asari woman was sitting behind a desk, casting a stern look at the three children seated across from her. When they entered, Dr. Navossa looked up and nodded to them "Mr. Shepard, Mrs. Vakarian please take a seat. As soon as Mr. Malva joins us we can start." _

_Alice sat down in one of the unoccupied chairs, casting a glance at the three children. Carn was looking down, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. Next to him, his friend Anna was doing the same, holding an icepack to her bruised cheek. The only one who didn't seem ashamed to be here was Lily, who was defiantly looking the principal straight in the eye. _

_A few minutes later, a turian with dark brown plates and white Palaven markings entered. "I'm sorry for being late," he said. "Traffic was horrendous." He stretched out a hand to Alice "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting yet. Agust Malva, I'm Anna's step-dad. My wife's mentioned you a few times."_

_Alice smiled and shook hands with the turian "Alice Vakarian, I wish I could say it was under better circumstances."_

_Agust nodded in agreement and turned to John "You must be Commander Shepard."_

_John shrugged "Technically my title is 'Supreme Commander of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance' but 'Commander' works too."_

"_Now that you're all here." Dr. Navossa said calmly "I wished to speak with you about an incident that occurred during recess involving your children."_

"_What happened?" John asked._

"_Carn, Lily, and Anna attacked and beat up an older turian boy." Navossa said calmly. "According to them, he had been bullying Carn. Evidently the boy said something that caused Anna to punch him. When the turian boy started hitting back, Carn stepped in and started attacking him. Lily saw this and, instead of going to get a teacher, decided to join in."_

"_Where's this boy now?" John demanded "It sounds to me like he started this whole thing."_

_The principal looked at John "He's in the emergency room with three broken ribs and several cracked plates."_

_Alice noticed the way Carn cringed and ducked his head even lower at this. "Will he be alright?"_

_Navossa nodded "His parents wished for me to tell you that while they are disappointed in their son's behavior and will punish him accordingly, they request that you pay for the medical expenses."_

_That seemed reasonable to her. Alice glanced at the children and noticed the satisfied glint in Lily's eyes. Hopefully John saw it too and would talk to her about it. She returned her attention to Dr. Navossa as Agust asked "Will they be expelled?"_

_The asari shook her head "As long as this stays a one-time only incident, no. They will however, be given a five day suspension." She gestured to Anna "Mr. Malva, you may take your daughter home. Carn, Lily, if I could ask you to step outside for a minute, I wish to speak with your parents in private." _

_Agust left with Anna while Carn and Lily stepped out of the office. As soon as they were alone, Dr. Navossa sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I'll admit, I expected better of the children of the great Commander Shepard and his sister."_

"_Children are children, no matter who their parents are." John said._

_Navossa looked at John "This is the twelfth time I've had to call you to my office because of Lily. It's not my place to tell you how to parent your children, but that girl is unstable. I suggest you consider therapy, or find her an outlet for all that pent up energy and aggression other than wreaking havoc." She turned her gaze on Alice "And I suggest you start sending Carn to Anger Management."_

_Alice was surprised to hear that "What makes you think he has anger issues?"_

"_Two of that turian boy's broken ribs were because of Carn." Navossa said darkly, "He also continued to attack the boy long after Lily and Anna had stopped."_

"_The kid was _bullying_ him!" Alice defended "I think it's perfectly understandable that he would be angry!"_

"_The teachers had to drag him off the other boy." Navossa insisted, "And it took him several minutes to calm down."_

"_You saw how ashamed he was." Alice said "He knows what he did was wrong, and feels guilty about it."_

"_That doesn't change the fact that he still has an anger problem." Navassa stated. "I am merely recommending what course of action you should take, it is up to you if that is what happens."_

_Alice shook her head but didn't argue further. She and John left the principal's office to find Carn and Lily waiting in some chairs placed outside the door. After saying goodbye to her brother, Alice took Carn out of the school and to the car. The drive home was weighed down by a heavy silence. Carn avoided even looking in Alice's direction, leaving her to mull over what the principal had said. She refused to believe that her sweet, mild-mannered little boy had a problem with his temper. When they finally arrived back home, Carn went straight to him room, not bothering to speak to her. Alice decided that she would come up with a punishment once Garrus got home and learned of the situation. She spent some time reviewing some reports for Liara from her Shadow Broker agents, but couldn't stop thinking about what Dr. Navossa had said. There had to be a reason for Carn to snap like that, it couldn't have just been pent-up anger._

_Finally, she decided to take a break and check up on Carn. She climbed the steps to the second floor of their apartment, stopping just outside of Carn's room. Gently, she knocked on the door, "Carn, sweetie, can I come in?"_

_From the other side, she heard a muffled "Sure." Alice opened the door to find Carn laying on his bed, his back turned to her. Sighing, Alice sat down on the edge of the mattress, reaching out a hand to soothingly rub Carn's back. After a moment of silence, Carn finally spoke "Am I in trouble?" he asked, still not facing her._

_Alice nodded "You were wrong to attack that boy Carn."_

"_He hurt Anna." He stated, "I don't like it when people hurt my friends."_

_Alice smiled inwardly at that; her little boy was a protector, just like his father. "You should have gotten an adult. Fighting him was wrong."_

_Carn didn't respond. For a while they just stayed like that, Carn laying down, facing away from her, and Alice gently rubbing his back. Finally, Alice asked "What did he say to you?"_

_Carn hesitated for a moment before rolling to face his mother. Alice's heart lurched when she saw that his eyes were red from crying. _I shouldn't have left him alone_. "He… he called me a freak. Said I belonged in a circus, with all the other freaks." _

_Alice suddenly felt a strong urge to find that boy and put a bullet in his brain. She quickly quelled that urge however, and focused on Carn. "Oh honey…" she said, sitting him up and pulling him into a hug. "You're _not_ a freak. And anybody that tells you otherwise is an idiot." _

_Carn tightly wrapped his arms around his mother, burrowing into her embrace "But why does it feel like he's right?"_

_Alice pulled back enough so that she could look her son in the eyes. "He's _not_, and the next time someone calls you a freak, or starts bullying you in any way, I want you to laugh in their faces, no matter how much their words sting. _You _know the truth, and that's all that matters."_

_Carn hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Am I still in trouble?"_

_Alice smiled faintly "Yes, you are. But know that no matter what, I will _always_ love you."_

…

"It's been three days." Kal said "And Mort _still_ isn't back yet."

"Be patient." Lily scolded.

"Me? _You're_ the one who's been pacing nonstop the whole time!"

"It's my ship damnit!" Lily snapped "I'll pace if I wanna pace!"

"Do I need to separate you two?" Nyn called from her perch on a crate at the far end of the hold.

Mars' avatar appeared next to the asari, eating from a (holographic) bag of popcorn "Quiet Nyn! This is getting good!"

"Look," Kal said, doing his best to ignore the juvenile AI and grumpy asari pilot. "All I'm saying is that Mort should have returned by now."

"Omega's a big station." Nyn pointed out, "There are a lot of places for agents of the Shadow Broker to hide."

Lily nodded, still pacing the width of the cargo hold "Mort may not be the best fighter, but he grew up as a duct rat on the Citadel, he can take care of himself."

"Then what about Carn?" Kal said, changing tactics "Who knows what your _boss_ is doing to him right now?"

Lily froze, her eyes locking with Kal's as she said darkly "I am well aware of the situation _Zorah_."

They faced off for a minute before Mars spoke up, breaking the tension "Mort's just entered the hanger bay."

Lily and Kal broke their staring contest and rushed to the loading ramp as it lowered to reveal the grinning drell. "Did you find them?" Lily asked hopefully.

"Yep," Mort said proudly "I have a lead on the ringleader. We take him out and their whole operation on Omega should come crashing down."

Lily nodded in determination, spinning on her heel and marching towards the stairs "I'm gonna go gear up. Mort and I will deal with the ringleader, Nyn you're in charge until I get back."

"I'm coming too." Kal stated.

Lily turned to face him, her brows furrowed "I won't be babysitting you out there."

Kal crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Lily from beneath his sapphire faceplate "Fine by me. I can take care of myself."

Lily cocked an eyebrow "Alright, follow me to the armory then, I'll get you set up with a pistol."

As Kal moved to follow Lily, he quipped "I prefer shotguns."

…

_What an odd sight we must be._ Kal mused as he, Lily, and Mort moved through Omega's cluttered streets. He cast a glance at the crowd surrounding them. _We're the only ones not heavily armed._

[Compared to most of these people we might as well be armed with butter knives.] Dex agreed.

Mort was leading their little trio, with Lily and Kal walking side-by-side behind him. Kal had been outfitted with an M-27 Scimitar; while it was hardly a Reegar Carbine or Geth Plasma Shotgun, it would do for now. Lily of course, had her custom pistols, Clint and Chuck, holstered at her sides, and was still wearing a red jacket over a white shirt and tight brown pants. _Does she even wash that thing?_ Kal wrinkled his nose at the thought. Mort was wearing the typical drell jacket-and-jumpsuit with a grey and brown color scheme and was the only one not armed.

"We're here." Mort said, wrenching Kal out of his thoughts.

Kal looked at their destination "It's… it's a bar."

"Very observant." Lily said blandly, moving towards the bar's door, Kal and Mort following her.

_A quarian, a drell, and a human walked into a bar,_ Kal mused. _Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke._

The bar was small, dark, and empty but for a few patrons. They took a booth in the corner, Lily and Mort both ordering drinks. "You should get something." Mort said when Lily came back with their drinks "We might be here a while."

Kal eyed the murky liquid in their glasses warily. He swore he could see the parasites just swimming around in there. "I'd rather not"

"Pussy." Lily said before tossing her head back and downed her entire glass in one gulp. She burped, wiping the excess of her mouth with the back of her hand and stood up "I'm grabbing another."

[That _can't _be sanitary.]

Kal had to agree with Dex on that as he watched Lily go to the bar and grab another… whatever that sludge was called. When Lily returned she took a sip from her drink before speaking "So, who're we looking for?"

Kal noticed that Mort kept his gaze focused on Lily "Did you see that human, male, middle-aged, receding dark grey hair, looks to be of Indian descent?"

Lily nodded "Yeah, I noticed him."

Kal frowned; he hadn't noticed the human. He turned to look for him when Lily snarled "Don't look!" Kal's head snapped back so fast he nearly got whiplash. After glaring at him for a moment, Lily turned back to Mort "That our guy?"

Mort shook his head "Not exactly."

"'Not _exactly_?'"

Mort explained "I started out by observing the potential suspects from the list Aria gave us. During this I-"

"Mort!" Lily hissed "Short version please!"

"Right, sorry Captain." Mort said sheepishly "Basically, I found enough evidence to suggest that he was one of the agents so I slipped a bug on him by-"

"Mort!"

"Short version, sorry. I overheard a conversation between him and another agent. Apparently the ringleader is known as 'the Executive'."

Lily cocked an eyebrow "And is this guy him?"

Kal noticed Mort glance away "Umm… no."

"_No_?" Lily's eyes narrowed.

"The Executive doesn't wander away from their base of operations apparently." Mort explained "So the way I see it, if we follow this guy, he'll take us right to them."

"Then we better get started," Lily said "He's on the move."

Kal looked out of the booth and saw that a human male matching Mort's description was paying the bartender and making to leave the bar. Kal started to stand up when Mort shook his head. "Wait, we don't want to draw his attention, we'll give him a couple seconds head start before following."

Kal complied, sitting back down "I take it you've done this kind of thing before?"

Mort shrugged "Once or twice"

"Or 27 times." Lily said with a smirk. "Not including this one."

Kal sighed "You don't do many legitimate jobs do you?"

"_Well_…" Lily smiled mischievously "Our work is _perfectly_ legitimate… in the Terminus Systems."

Kal shook his head. At that moment, Mort stood up "Okay, we should be fine now."

They left the bar, Mort quickly locating the agent's retreating form and leading them in his footsteps. After several minutes of weaving through the labyrinth of Omega's streets, the agent slipped into an alley. Following him, Kal, Lily, and Mort stealthily crept into the alley, taking cover behind a dumpster. Further down the alley, the agent was meeting with a turian. Kal couldn't make out what they were saying, but it seemed to have something to do with the merc groups. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something, but he dismissed it as his imagination acting up.

Suddenly, Kal felt something poke into his side and froze as a gravelly voice whispered harshly "_Don't move._" A batarian decloaked, holding a gun to Kal's side, a sneer on his lips. "Hey Brian!" the batarian called to the agent "Look who it is, Lily Shepard and Kal'Zorah! Looks like the boss was right after all!" The batarian's eyes glinted as he said "We've been expecting you."

…

Mars was bored.

Expanding into Cyan's core had been a nerve-racking experience, but now that it was over and he'd had enough time to adjust, he found that he had absolutely nothing to keep himself entertained. He'd been idly browsing the extra-net and looking at videos of baby animals ever since Lily, Kal, and Mort left. There were too many to count, and even an AI would never be able to view them all, but Mars didn't have the attention span to try. (He did take some mild amusement from seeing videos of turians freaking out whenever they saw a cat- understandable when you take into consideration that Palaven had once been home to several large felines that had preyed upon their ancestors until they were systematically wiped out with extreme prejudice once the turians could manage it- but it was still funny.)

[Mars, we require your assistance.]

The AI felt a connection establish itself as Dex suddenly contacted him. [Finally, something to do. What do you need?]

[We have run into a complication] the geth replied [Kal, Lily, and Mort have been captured by the Shadow Broker's agents. I have been sent to acquire assistance.]

[What do you need?]

[I am currently being barred from accessing the mainframe of the warehouse where they are being held.] Dex explained, sending him the location [I need you to do it instead.]

If Mars had shoulders he would have shrugged [Sure, I'll let you know when I'm done.]

[We will be in contact.] With that the geth severed the connection, leaving Mars to his work.

Mars envisioned himself stretching as he located the correct warehouse. [The mainframe's pretty isolated] he noted [but I should be able to connect through… bingo.] Mars gave himself a pat on the back (figuratively speaking) as he found a connection to the warehouse's mainframe. When he tried to access it however, he found his progress blocked. Mars grinned (again, figuratively speaking). [Oooh, a little firewall. This is going to be fun!]

Mars felt around the firewall, testing its strengths and weaknesses [Pretty advanced for just some warehouse.] he mused [But, not advanced enough.] He found a weak point and sent a little virus of his own design at it. He liked to call it "The Creeper."

[That's a very nice firewall you have there.] He "said" in a breathy "voice" [Be a shame if something were to…] at that moment the virus, for lack of a better word, detonated, overloading the firewall with a large amount of data, causing it to come crashing down [_…happen _to it.] He "chuckled" at his little joke as he waltzed over the remains of the firewall and accessed the warehouse's mainframe, letting Dex know of his success. [I'm so awesome.]

…

[Mars has successfully hacked into the warehouse's systems] Dex reported [He is on standby for further instructions.]

_Great, can you hold on a second Dex?_ Kal replied. _I'm kind of in the middle of something here._

Kal, Lily, and Mort were all tied to chairs inside a small room in an old warehouse that the Broker's agents had taken them to. Pacing back and forth in front of them was the Executive, a large krogan with wide shoulders and an imposing presence. "You know, when the boss told us to keep an eye out for you, I couldn't quite believe it, the daughter of Commander Shepard and the son of Admiral Zorah." He glanced at Kal "Although I was told you were a prisoner, not an accomplice." He turned back to Lily, glaring at her "You've got a lot of nerve. Ya' know that? Stealing a Reaper processor, attacking a Spectre and one of their agents, and that's just the stuff you've done recently." He leaned forward so that his face was inches from hers "Who do you think you are, huh? Some sort of glorified smuggler?"

"Yep."

The Executive blinked "What?"

"You heard me." Lily said cheerily "I'm a glorified smuggler. Oh, and I'm sexy. And a Shepard, don't forget that."

Kal cocked an eyebrow at Lily beneath his faceplate. _What?_

The Executive seemed just as confused as Kal. "Huh?"

Lily's smirk widened "Oh, I'm sorry, was that too much for your little krogan brain to handle?"

The Executive bristled "You better watch your mouth or I'll-"

"Or you'll what?" Lily taunted "You can't touch me, I'm pretty sure your _boss_ wouldn't like that."

The krogan snarled, but turned his back and stomped away "Keep an eye on them." He told the two agents who had brought them here "I'm gonna go call the boss" and stormed out of the room.

When the Executive was out of sight, Kal gave Lily a puzzled look "What was that about?"

Lily shrugged "Nothing really, just having a bit of fun." She glanced around the room "Hey, does Mars have access to the warehouse's systems yet?" she whispered.

Kal blinked "How did you-"

"Just a guess," Lily grinned "Does he have access to the speakers?"

Kal eyed Lily wearily "Why?"

"Does he?"

With a sigh, Kal posed the question to Dex. "Yes," he said once he got his answer "Why…?" he stopped when he saw something in Lily's hands that she was using to cut through the ropes that bound her hands behind her back.

Lily shook her head "Tell him to start playing my jam." Kal cocked his head to the side, trying to convey his confusion. Lily grinned "Trust me."

Kal shook his head and relayed the message through Dex. The warehouse speakers crackled to life and a vibrant tune played by string instruments started. The agents in the room looked at the ceiling in confusion while from somewhere in the warehouse, the Executive shouted "Who turned that music on!"

As soon as the agents looked away, Lily cut herself loose and immediately burst out of the chair, throwing the razor she had used to free herself into the head of one of the agents, killing him instantly. The other agent spun around, raising the muzzle of his rifle to bear on Lily. With speed that surprised Kal, Lily closed the distance between them and knocked the rifle out of the agents hands with a kick before punching him in the stomach and, when the agent doubled over, snapping his neck. Lily bent down to retrieve her razor and returned to Kal and Mort.

After she had cut the through ropes that restrained Mort, Lily lightly patted his cheek "'Ey Mort? You can come back to the present now."

Mort, who had been staring off into space this whole time shook his head and focused on Lily. "Huh? Oh, are we escaping? Took you long enough."

Lily moved to cut Kal free. Once he was, Kal stood up and glanced at Mort in confusion "Um… what exactly were you doing this whole time?"

"Drell can slip into their memories whenever they want." Lily said, going over to the table where their weapons had been placed and retrieving her pistols.

"I find it helps pass the time when I'm waiting for the Captain to do her thing." Mort said casually.

Kal grabbed his omni-tool and shotgun from the table "Fair enough, what's our next move?"

Lily readied her pistols with a grin "Now, we have fun."

Through the door was an empty hallway lined with several other rooms similar to the one they had been held in. The music was still blasting through the speakers as Lily, Kal, and Mort crept down the hall, weapons at the ready. They halted at a corner, Lily quickly looking around the turn. She turned back to her companions, mouthing: _three_.

Kal nodded and readied his omni-tool, prepared to send out his combat drone when Lily shook her head, mouthing: _I got this_.

She took a deep breath and then, without warning, Lily rolled out from behind the corner, guns coming up. There were three bangs, and Lily lowered her still smoking guns, beckoning for Kal and Mort to come out. Rounding the corner, Kal saw three agents lying on the floor, each with a hole through their head where Lily had shot them.

"Come on," Lily said "The music might have covered up the sound of the gunshots but we better not take any chances."

They moved through the halls, Lily quickly dispatching any agents they encountered with her lightning-fast reflexes and seemingly perfect aim. Eventually, they found themselves in the large expanse of the warehouse's main floor. They each took cover behind a crate and watched as the Executive ordered the agents around. "I don't care if you have to shoot the damn speakers! Turn off that music!"

"This will probably get messy," Lily noted "Mort, do your thing."

The drell nodded "Understood Captain."

Kal blinked "Wait, what's his thing?"

"Staying out of the way." Lily said "Mort isn't exactly the best when it comes to fighting."

Kal absorbed this information. That meant that it was just him and Lily against all the agents. "All right, what's the plan?"

Lily flashed him a mischievous grin "Plans are for chumps." With that, she sprung up from behind her crate and fired at the Broker's agents, sending them scurrying for cover.

Swearing, Kal activated his omni-tool and sent out his combat drone "Go Dex! Aim for the eyes!" he caught the look Lily shot his way "What? Dex controls my combat drone."

Lily shook her head, ducking down behind cover after she put a bullet in an unlucky agent's skull. "You're Tali'Zorah's son alright."

Kal shot her a confused look from beneath his faceplate while popping out from behind his crate to take a potshot at the Executive. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lily smiled "Just a story my dad told me once."

They traded fire back and forth with the Broker's agents for what seemed like an eternity. Sometime during this, Mort had disappeared. It was not lost on Kal that they were severely outnumbered and yet somehow managed to hold their own against the agents. Kal attributed this partly to his combat drone and turret and partly to Lily's remarkable marksmanship. How she was able to land killing shots with nearly every bullet while screaming "YOU FEELING LUCKY PUNK?! WELL? _ARE YA_?!" he'll never know.

Kal swore as his turret got overloaded. He loosed another blast from his shotgun at the Executive before having to duck back behind the crate to avoid getting turned to Swiss cheese (Was that the right expression?) by another burst from the krogan's Revenant. Kal ducked out of cover and shot a krogan agent that had gotten too close to Lily point blank. Kal grinned as the krogan stumbled backwards from the blast. He continued firing shot after shot into the krogan, sending the agent reeling backwards. Kal frowned when he pulled the trigger and, instead of the shotgun's normal boom, all he got was a click and some faint beeping. He looked down at his weapon and saw it smoking. _Damn, thermal clip's out._ Before he could reload, Kal heard a roar of rage and looked up in time to see the krogan, bleeding from multiple wounds but still very much alive, charge him. The krogan rammed into Kal with the force of a truck, grabbing him by the throat, picking him up, and slamming him into the wall. Kal saw stars and clawed at the krogan's meaty fingers that were slowly crushing his throat. His shotgun lay out of reach a few feet away where he'd dropped it when the krogan tackled him.

He managed to pry the giant fingers from his throat just long enough to cry out "Lily!"

Nearby, Lily had noticed Kal's plight and took aim at the krogan. Before she could fire however, she felt something sear across the back of her neck like a white hot lance. Crying out, she ducked back behind the crate, her hand going to her neck and coming away bloody. _Sniper._ She applied medi-gel to the back of her neck, breathing a sigh of relief as the cool substance banished the pain. _Just a graze_._ Any closer and I'd have been in trouble_.

Lily quickly glanced out from behind the crate, snapping back into cover just before the sharp retort of a sniper rifle sounded and the ground behind her erupted, leaving a small crater where the round had struck. _Rafters_, Lily thought quickly. _I'll have to be quick._ She holstered Clint and took out a small missile from a small pouch near her holsters and attached it to Chuck's barrel. Rolling out from behind the crate, fire from the other agents peppering her shields, Lily aimed up toward the rafters approximately where she thought the sniper was and pulled the trigger. The missile flew true and, as she scrambled back behind another crate, bullets shredding the air around her, Lily grinned as she heard a loud boom over the still playing music followed by a scream as the sniper fell the long way to the ground below, landing with a satisfying crunch.

After a moment Lily frowned "Wait a second…" she glanced in the general direction of the now dead sniper "Was that a Wilhelm scream?"

"Lily!"

"Right, sorry!" Lily said, suddenly remembering Kal.

The quarian was just barely holding on. Only his attempts to pry the krogan's fingers from his throat had kept his windpipe from being crushed. Where was Lily?

[It appears you require assistance.] Dex said flatly.

_You THINK?!_ Kal shot back. The angle he and the krogan were at kept the other agents from finishing Kal off with a shot to the head but it was a small comfort when paired with the fact that he was currently being strangled by 300 pounds of pure muscle.

His vision was just going dark around the edges when he heard someone say "Excuse me?"

Kal saw the krogan turn his head to the side and, without warning, Kal saw the barrel of his shotgun shoved into the krogan's face. There was a loud boom and Kal's faceplate was coated in gore as he was released gasping for breath. He felt someone drag him behind cover and, once he'd wiped the blood and brain-matter from his faceplate, Kal saw Lily holding his shotgun, a smirk on her lips.

"Took you long enough." Kal said, glancing at the headless corpse of the krogan lying a few feet away as Lily gave him back his shotgun. "Where were you?"

"Oh, I thought I'd stop and do some sightseeing along the way." Lily answered cheerfully.

"DIE YOU BLASTED DRONE!"

Lily glanced in the direction of the Executive's roar "Tough little guy ain't he?"

Kal hefted his shotgun "There's a reason Dex controls it instead of some dumb VI. Come on, let's finish this."

The Broker's agents had dropped significantly in number so that there were only a few left. Kal and Lily quickly dispatched the remaining agents, leaving only the Executive cowering in the corner as Dex hovered over him, buzzing angrily. Lily walked over to where the Executive's Revenant lay in pieces, whistling in appreciation "I need to get myself one of those geth-controlled combat drones."

The music cut off as Kal walked over to the Executive "What do you want to do with him?"

The Executive seemed to gather his courage and barked "You'll pay for this! You hear me? The Shadow Broker won't let this stand!"

Lily walked up to the Executive "I'm sure." Quick as lighting, she raised Chuck and fired three shots into the krogan's skull. Lily holstered her weapon, turning to leave. "Come on, we're done here."

Kal looked between the dead krogan and Lily's retreating back. He knew she had every right to be in a hurry, but the cold manner with which Lily had killed the Executive still unnerved him.

"Mort!" Lily shouted "You can come out now!" the warehouse door opened to reveal the yellow drell, a small smile on his lips. "Where were you?" Lily asked, walking over to him.

Kal deactivated his combat drone and joined them while Mort spoke "I took the liberty of having Mars copy and delete all of their data. Don't want that kind of stuff falling into Aria's hands."

Lily grinned "_Nice_. Is there any info about where Kronov might have taken Carn?"

Mort shrugged "I don't know, Mars is going through the data now."

Lily nodded "Alright. Mort, you head back to the ship and prep for take-off." She turned to Kal "Let's go tell Aria her dirty work is done."

…

Afterlife was, as always, crowded. Lily and Kal pushed their way through the mass of drunken patrons toward where Aria held court. Lily, never one for waiting, strode right past the guards, punching one of them when he tried to stop her. Ignoring the goons aiming their guns at her, Lily marched up to where Aria was lounging and said sharply "We did what you wanted. Now where did Kronov take Carn?"

Aria merely nodded "Yes, my spies told me as much." She smiled coolly "I really need to stop underestimating you Shepards."

"Kronov." Lily demanded as Kal came up behind her.

"First," Aria held out her hand "The data."

Lily frowned "What data?"

Aria's eyes turned cold "Don't play dumb with me Lily, I know you downloaded all the information the Broker's men had. I want it."

Lily's eyes narrowed "The data was never a part of the deal."

Aria continued smiling "The 'deal' has changed."

Lily bristled. _That bitch!_ She was itching to draw her gun and shoot the smug asari right between the eyes, even if she would probably be gunned down before she could even remove her pistol from its holster.

"Alright." Lily's head snapped to Kal when he spoke, caught completely off-guard. "_After_ you show us what you have on Kronov." Kal added "If it's any good, you get the data, if not, you don't."

Aria smiled at the quarian "I'm sorry, you seem to believe that this is a negotiation."

Lily could have sworn she saw Kal smirk "I'm sorry, you seem to forget that we can delete the data at any time, and I'm sure you don't want that. So start talking."

Aria's smile broadened "You're a shrewd negotiator Zorah."

Kal shrugged "It's a gift."

Aria nodded "Very well, Kronov left Omega on a small transport called the Broken Scarlet."

Kal folded his arms over his chest "We could have learned that from the docking manifests. What else?"

Aria's smile grew to wolfish levels "I anticipated you or the Spectres might want to track him, so I had a transmitter placed on his ship." She gestured to one of the goons who activated his omni-tool. "I'll give you the frequency." Lily looked down at her omni-tool and noticed that she had indeed been given the frequency that would allow them to track the transmitter. Aria held out her hand once more "Now, the data."

Kal nodded and activated his omni-tool "Here it is, nice doing business with you."

They started to leave when Aria held up her hand "Let's just make sure that you're not trying to trick me." She activated her omni-tool.

Lily immediately noticed Kal tense "_Run_," he whispered.

Lily frowned "What?" she glanced back at Aria. The Queen of Omega was studying her omni-tool, frowning at what was on there. Suddenly, her expression grew furious.

"RUN!" Without warning, Kal loosed his combat drone on Aria's goons.

Lily didn't need to be told twice. Drawing Clint, she grabbed Kal's hand and made a bold leap over Aria's couch and down to the floor below as Aria's goons opened fire. She landed lightly- thought the same couldn't be said for Kal behind her- and was off like a bullet in a mad sprint through afterlife, dragging Kal behind her. As they burst through Afterlife's main door, Lily could hear Aria cry "AFTER THEM!"

Lily pulled Kal around a corner and into a smaller corridor, trying to lose their pursuit in Omega's winding streets. She glanced back at Kal as they ran "What did you give her?"

She knew that Kal was grinning beneath his faceplate "Oh, just a little virus that's going to utterly decimate her omni-tool."

Eventually, they managed to shake their pursuers and made their way back to the Hermes. As soon as they were aboard, Lily ordered Nyn to take off and plot a course for the mass relay. "Mars," as soon as she spoke the AI's avatar appeared in front of her.

"Yes Captain?" Mars said with a mock salute.

"Hack into Aria's databases and erase any trace of the transmitter frequency you can find. I want us to be the only ones who know where Kronov is."

Mars grinned "Oooh, I _love_ vandalism!" With that his avatar flicked off.

Lily shook her head as she felt the Hermes take off. She had started towards the cargo hold stairs when she heard Kal speak up "I don't suppose I can convince you to let the Spectres help us?"

Lily glanced back at Kal "You can try. It won't work, but you can try."

Kal sighed and followed her "You really think you can rescue Carn with just a stealth ship and a small crew? What if he's under heavy guard? What if he's being kept in an impenetrable fortress? What then?"

Lily smiled "My dad took out the Collectors without a single casualty, and he only had a small team of specialists."

"That 'small team of specialists' consisted of 13 of the most dangerous people in the galaxy, including your aunt and uncle." Kal pointed out "Let's see who we have," he started counting off on his fingers "A grumpy pilot, a drell who can't fight, and immature AI, a self-proclaimed 'glorified smuggler,' and me." He glared at Lily "Oh yes, they will _tremble_ before us!"

Lily smirked, "You forgot one thing."

"What?"

"I'm a Shepard."

…

John briefly looked up from his datapad and nodded to Javik as the Prothean stepped into his office. "How's Raskos?" he asked, returning his attention to the datapad.

"Healing." Javik said, "Lily didn't do too much damage, he should be recovered in a couple days."

John nodded "Was there something you needed?" he asked, putting the datapad down.

Javik frowned (something he did a lot) and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why have you halted my hunt?"

John sighed, he'd figured this was coming "We have no leads Javik."

"Because you will not let me find them." The Prothean retorted.

"Liara's looking into it."

"The asari's resources are slow," Javik growled "by the time she learns of something they will have sold the processor already."

"We can't just go charging in," John pointed out "They have a hostage."

"All the more reason for us to move quickly." Javik said darkly "What will they do once the Zorah boy is no longer useful to them."

John stood up, shaking his head "As long as she doesn't feel threatened, Lily won't hurt him. I know my own daughter Javik."

"Really?" Javik sneered "It was my understanding that the reason she ran away was that you _didn't_ 'know her'."

The silence that fell over the room weighed heavily on their shoulders like a thousand tons. John's expression grew hard. His eyes locked with Javik's, a cold fury burning in their icy blue depths. Finally he spoke, a cold, sharp edge in his voice that could cleave a Reaper's hull. "You have been my friend for many years Javik, but you are still my subordinate, and I _will not_ tolerate insubordination. Do I make myself clear?"

There were only a few people in the galaxy that Commander John Shepard could not intimidate and Javik was one of them. "I will not apologize for speaking the truth, _Commander_." Javik said venomously.

Not backing down, Javik met John's hard stare unflinchingly. The two Spectres- two Commanders, one former, one current- faced off, matching one another's challenge, mirror images of each other, if not in appearance then in spirit. Both had fought the Reapers, both had barely survived the ordeal, both had lost friends to war, both suffered physical and mental scars, so different, yet so similar. Javik, Avatar of Vengeance, Last of the Protheans, dark, brooding, cynical. John Shepard, Paragon of Humanity, succeeding where countless other cycles failed in defeating the Reapers, even if that victory had not been what most expected, hopeful, charismatic, brave. They stood like light and dark, clashing in a battle of wills.

"**Sir, Aria T'loak is on the line. She wishes to speak with you."**

Keeping his eyes locked with Javik's John replied "Patch her through to my terminal."

"**Yes Commander."**

Shooting Javik one last glare that promised the matter was not over, John finally broke the staring contest and turned his attention to his terminal as the Queen of Omega's visage appeared on the screen. "Aria," he said cordially "What can I do for you?"

Aria's expression was calm, but her eyes burned with anger "Your _daughter_ came to see me."

John noticed how Javik's eyes narrowed. "And? There has to be more to it than that."

"Oh there is," Aria said, a trace of anger in her voice "She wanted information. In exchange, she had to do a task for me, gather some data. As soon as she did and I gave them the information they wanted, she and her quarian gave me a fake copy of the data rigged with a virus. When the treachery was discovered, they set a combat drone on me and my men and ran."

John resisted the urge to smirk. _That's my girl._ He frowned when something occurred to him "What quarian?"

Aria eyed him curiously "I'd heard about Kal'Zorah's alleged kidnapping. It seems he's not being held against his will as much as you thought."

Javik snarled and John's eyes narrowed. _He's working with Lily._ It was not a question. _That complicates things_. "What information did they want from you?"

A small smile touched Aria's lips "You mean you _don't know_?" she said, not even trying to sound shocked "My, my, I'd have thought she'd at least have had the courtesy of telling his family."

John had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach "Stop playing coy Aria."

The asari's smile grew "They wanted to know where the man who hired them to retrieve the Reaper processor- a turian cyborg by the name of Kronov- had gone to."

"Why?"

"When Lily and Carn went to give him the processor, Kronov incapacitated them both and took Carn." Aria paused, clearly waiting to see how John would react.

"What did you tell them?" John asked, his tone calm.

Disappointed, Aria continued "I gave them the frequency for a transmitter I had placed on Kronov's ship."

"Can you give us the frequency too?" John asked.

"No, they somehow hacked into my network and erased all the data I had on it. My bet is they used an illegal AI to do it."

John considered this, he'd have to check with Tali, but Kal could have a geth in his suit. Even with the example of EDI and the geth, the creation of AIs was still a heavily regulated matter, and at this point, the fewer charges laid against Lily the better. "Thank you for the information Aria." Not waiting for her to reply, John cut the connection.

He turned to face Javik. Inside, his heart was beating a mile a minute. He'd always suspected something like this would happen. He knew that whoever had created Carn had had a reason for it, and he'd had a feeling that one day, they would want him back. There was still the possibility that Kronov had no connections to the people who'd made Carn and had his own reasons for taking him. Regardless, that didn't change the fact that they needed to get Carn back, and it looked like the only way to do that was to find Lily.

"Javik," he said darkly "Looks like you got your wish, the hunt's back on."

…

Light from Sahrabarik glinted off the cruiser's hull as it drifted near Omega. On the bridge, a large, menacing, beast watched as the Hermes flew towards the Mass Relay. Behind him, a salarian piped up "Orders sir?"

The beast thought for a moment, "Follow them, but keep your distance. I don't want to spook our prey."

The salarian nodded and went to relay the beast's orders.

Dread, the Scourge of the Terminus smiled to himself, revealing dozens of needle-sharp teeth, his eight eyes locked on the Hermes. As he relished in the thrill of the hunt and anticipated the upcoming kill, the yahg vowed "You will not escape me again, Captain Shepard."

**A/N: Feel free to point out any mistakes I've made and give me feedback on how I can improve, there were many elements about this chapter that I'm still not sure about. **


	9. Rescue

**A/N: A thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to review. I've set myself a goal: finish this story before Dragon Age: Inquisition comes out. Do I really think that it will take another year to finish this story? I wouldn't be surprised that's for sure. I finally decided to go through and write down a chapter-by-chapter overview of this story, during which I learned that my initial estimate was WAY off. When I finished, the chapters totaled at 86. **_**86**_**! That's TWICE the amount I originally predicted! Then again, this is the last chapter with a full rough draft, and since I always find myself having trouble focusing when I'm transcribing, maybe I'll be pumping out chapters more often. Then again (again), I'm going to be starting college soon, so my free time will be significantly reduced.**

9: Rescue

BANG!

_Garrus watched as Carn blew a hole in the target with the rifle. It was only their second practice session and already his son was showing some skill with the weapon. However, he didn't like how long it took Carn to line up a shot. Taking your time was all well and good, but spending five minutes on a large target at the shooting range was a little absurd in Garrus' opinion. _Patience_, he scolded himself. _Speed will come with practice, he has good aim; he just needs to have confidence in his skill.

_Garrus noticed that Carn was looking at him expectantly. Nodding, Garrus said "Very good, you almost got the bulls-eye that time." He pressed the switch to reel the target back in. "Let's try something a little different." Once he had replaced the hole-riddled target with a fresh one and sent it back out, Garrus pressed another button and the target started to move back and forth._

_Carn's shoulders slumped "I can't hit that." He moaned._

"_You're going to need to learn to." Garrus said, "You're enemies won't just stand there waiting for you to shoot them."_

_Carn sighed and lifted the rifle up to his shoulder once more. After several long minutes there was another bang as Carn pulled the trigger, followed by a distant ping as the bullet struck the back of the range, leaving the target unharmed. "You see!" Carn said, lowering the rifle "It's impossible!"_

_Garrus cocked a brow-plate "Really?" Without even looking, Garrus drew the pistol at his hip and fired at the target, hitting dead center. "You're giving up too easily." he scolded "Again."_

_They kept at it for another couple hours until Carn's arms and shoulder were too tired to continue. Overall, Carn had only managed to hit in the target's rings once, and he was clearly not happy about it. He sulked the entire ride back to their apartment, ignoring Garrus' attempts at conversation. When they got back, Carn headed straight to his room, mumbling something about calling Anna._

_Alice must have noticed Carn's behavior, because it wasn't long before she came up to Garrus and asked "What's wrong with Carn? Did you two have a fight?"_

_Garrus shook his head "No, he's just upset because I started him on moving targets today and he wasn't very good at it. He'll get better with time."_

_Alice frowned "Don't you think you're pushing him a little too much? He's only just started practicing with you after all."_

"_He's a good shot Alice, he just needs to realize it." Garrus grinned "Don't worry, he'll be fine."_

_Upstairs, Carn was talking with Anna on his omni-tool "I don't know why he insists on these training sessions. It's not like I _want_ to join the military after all."_

"_Have you told your dad that?" Anna asked. "I'm sure he'd understand."_

_Carn hesitated "But he seems so happy when we're training, I don't want to hurt his feelings." He paused for a moment before changing topics "So, how's summer camp?"_

_Anna's eyes lit up and she immediately launched into a detailed description of what she'd been doing the past couple of days. For a long time, Carn just sat there, listening to her talk, forgetting all about his own problems. That was one of the things he liked best about Anna, no matter how bad his day was, she could always make him feel better._

…

Lily sat in her chair in the cockpit. It had taken four days to travel to the remote location of the transmitter somewhere in the Horsehead Nebula, mainly because it appeared to be located in a particularly thick part of the dark nebula that interfered with the signal, causing them to spend three days wandering the cloud, trying to pinpoint its location. A few hours ago, Mars, Dex, and Kal found what they believed to be the signal, and they were headed there now.

Without warning, the Hermes shook violently, sending Lily out of her chair and through the galaxy map. "Watch it Nyn!" Lily said, climbing back into her chair as the tremor lessened.

"I'm _sorry_ Captain! It's not like I'm trying to fly us through the deep space equivalent of a thunderstorm or anything!" Nyn snapped back, gritting her teeth as she tried to keep the ship steady.

"Why is it getting so bad?" Mort asked from one of the chairs behind Lily "It was fine earlier."

Nyn opened her mouth to speak but surprisingly, it was Kal who answered Mort from the other chair "If I had to guess, I'd say there's a singularity at the center of this cloud- not a large one mind you, just big enough to cause us some turbulence." Upon seeing the curious looks everyone was giving him, Kal shrugged "What? I'm a quarian. We know a thing or two about space travel."

Nyn gave him an approving nod "There's a reason nobody comes out here Captain. Pilots call it the Horse's Maw." Another tremor shook the ship, this time sending Mort tumbling from his chair. "Ships go in, looking to evade pursuit, they don't come back out."

"And you decided not to mention this before because…?" Lily asked.

"It's just a ghost story Captain. I can give you the names of a dozen ships who've made it through unscathed, and that's just off the top of my head." Nyn paused "Granted, they didn't go through the center like we are, but Zorah said it himself, it's probably just a small singularity. We'll be fine."

Kal shook his head "What I don't understand is why Kronov would take Carn _here_."

"It's hidden out of the way and hard to get to." Lily noted "Sounds like the perfect place to hide a secret base to me."

"How much you wanna bet Kronov and his pals are the reason for the 'ghost stories'?" Mort asked.

Kal glanced at Lily and Mort "Really? A hidden lair tucked away in some remote, hard to get to location? You guys have been watching way too many vids."

At that exact moment, the shaking stopped and the Hermes emerged from the thick cloud and into a large bubble of clear space where the nebula around them was strangely absent. In the center of this bubble was a large space station with an even larger ship attached to it. Lily smirked as she saw Kal's eyes widen beneath his faceplate. "You were saying?"

The station was a large halo attached to a sphere by four arms. While it was nowhere near the size of the Citadel, or even as large as Arcturus had been, it was still larger than average. What was _really_ impressive was the behemoth docked to it. Dwarfing the station, the ship was larger than the Destiny Ascension, larger than a Sovereign-Class Reaper- hell, it may even have been larger than the Crucible. The ship had an asari ring-engine in the center, with four arms branching out from it. Each arm was shaped like a three-sided pyramid with the tip reaching forward, like a claw that was just waiting to grab them.

"Mars," Lily said, her tone calm "Activate the stealth field."

Mars' avatar popped up at his spot on the projectors next to Nyn. "I already did."

Kal got up, moving to stand behind Nyn "Look," he said, pointing out the viewport past the ship and station. "You see how the nebula seems to be converging at that point? That must be the singularity. I wonder how they managed negate its pull… A large mass effect field perhaps? But then how did they clear out the nebula around them? I wonder if-"

"Have a nerdgasm on your own time Zorah." Lily said with a roll of her eyes, standing up. "This is it people. We get in, free Carn, and get out. Any questions?" When she was met with silence Lily grinned "Time to spring a rescue."

…

Carn sighed as he looked out the viewport at the swirling dark cloud of the nebula from his seat on the couch in the module's common room. He'd been stuck here for almost a week so far and nobody had come to take him anywhere since the first day. He rubbed his neck, his whole body still ached. Whatever the "Harvesting" had done to him, it had not left his body at 100%.

"Alright, I can't take it anymore." Alec said from behind him "You've staring out that window almost non-stop for six days. What are you looking at?"

"I'm not _looking at_ anything." Carn said flatly, not tearing his eyes from the view. "I'm _waiting._"

He heard Alec sigh in exasperation and mutter something. Ignoring the human/batarian hybrid, Carn rested his head against the glass. After a while, his eyes started to droop. Shaking his head Carn struggled to stay awake. He'd hardly slept this whole time and he felt his strength waning. _Just for a second_… Reluctantly, he allowed his eyes to shut and fell into a half-dose, his mind's eye opening as he drifted into a familiar dream…

_He was standing in the midst of a thick fog that obscured his view. In the distance he could hear faint crying. "Hello?" he called out, searching for the source, black sand crunching beneath his feet. _Not this place again.

_Embers started to fall from the sky, blowing about in a nonexistent wind, like the stars themselves were falling to earth, cast down from the heavens. As Carn wandered around in the haze, something happened that had never happened before. The fog parted, revealing a frail figure- a child- curled into a fetal position as its cries echoed around it. Carn rushed to the tiny child "Are you alright?" He knelt down and cautiously stretched out a hand to the child. Without warning, the child looked up. Carn recoiled, scrambling back away from the child as he saw its face._

_As he saw _his own_ face._

"_Save us…" it whispered. The child doppelganger did not share Carn's voice. Instead, it sounded like a million people, all crying out for help at once. "Save us…"_

"_Save you? From what?" Carn asked, confused._

"_Save us …" the child repeated, reaching for Carn "Save us…"_

"_From _what_? Who _are_ you?" Carn pressed._

"_Save us…"_

"Carn?"

Carn snapped awake at the sound of Erin's voice. He glanced to the side to see that she was sitting next to him on the couch, looking concerned. _Must have dozed off…_ "How long was I asleep?" he asked.

"A couple hours." Erin said "How're you doing?"

Carn snorted "Oh I'm doing _great_! It's not like I've been kidnapped, found out I'm _not_ the only human/turian hybrid in existence, mind-raped by a crazy asari, forced to relive one of my worst memories, beaten up by a freakishly strong cyborg, and endured more pain than I thought was possible or anything!" Carn saw Erin wince at his harsh tone. He immediately felt his anger extinguished by guilt. "Sorry," he said gently, turning back to look out the viewport "You didn't deserve that."

He heard Erin sigh "It's alright, being trapped here must be worse for you than it is for me. I've never known anything else, but you have friends and family out there. It must be horrible, being cut off from them like this."

Carn didn't respond. A minute of silence passed before he heard someone else speak "What's it like out there?"

Carn turned to see that Sara had sat down in a chair across from him and was now looking at him intently. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't surprised; Sara had hardly spoken at all to him the whole time he was here. "What?"

"What's the galaxy like?" Sara asked, he voice almost a whisper "I've only seen it on the extranet."

"Yeah," Erin added "You never did answer any of my questions."

Carn hesitated before replying "It's… hard to explain."

"Try," Erin insisted.

Carn got one look at Sara and Erin's hopeful expressions and caved "The galaxy… it's… big… and um… vast…" he sighed "You can't really sum it up in a few words. It's different for everyone, the only way to really know is to go out there and experience it for yourself."

Sara's shoulder's slumped while Erin pouted. "Fat chance of that happening." She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

Carn was about to reassure her that it could still happen when, without warning alarms started blaring. A cool, mechanical voice boomed from the speakers, talking over the sound of the siren. **"ALERT! INTRUDERS DETECTED! ALL SECURITY PERSONNEL REPORT TO SECTOR 19 IMMEDIATELY! ALL RESIDENTS ARE CONFINED TO QUARTERS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!"**

Carn grinned, standing up "I guess that's my ride." He marched over to the module's locked door and started inspecting it.

Alec came out of his room, looking worried "What's going on?"

"My ride's here." Carn said casually.

"What?" Alec shared confused looks with Erin and Sara "What are you talking about?"

Carn turned to face Alec "It was only a matter of time before my cousin Lily came to the rescue. She'd never rest until she found me." A thought suddenly occurred to Carn. He turned to face Erin and Sara "Come with me."

"No way!" Alec said before either of them could reply. "You don't even know if it is your cousin! Or if you'll even get away! If we're caught with you then we'll be in serious trouble! Besides," he crossed his arms over his chest "Why would we ever want to leave? We're fed, we're looked after, and not all of the people under Vilvia's command are as heartless as Kronov. We have _friends_ here. Why should we go with you?"

Carn didn't even have to think on his answer "Because this isn't _living_." He met Erin's eyes, "Remember what I said about how you need to experience the galaxy for yourself? This is your chance."

Erin's expression grew determined. "Alright."

Carn smiled and looked at Sara. "Well?"

The other human/turian hybrid nodded. Carn turned when he heard Alec sigh "I guess I'm coming too then. Where Sara goes, I go."

Carn smiled at Alec before turning back to Erin. "How strong a biotic are you?"

Erin blinked "Um… I don't know. Why?"

"Do you think you could break open the door with your biotics?" Carn asked.

Erin hesitated for a moment before nodding "Stand back."

Carn obliged, moving out of the way as Erin approached the door. Spreading her legs into a stable stance, Erin stared down the door, her face determined. Letting loose a fierce battle-cry, she thrust her hand forward…

…and nothing happened.

Carn frowned as Erin glared at her hand, like it was to blame. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him "Erin?" he asked "You _do_ know how to use your biotics right?"

Erin looked at him sheepishly "Um… maybe?"

Carn groaned while Alec chuckled "Didn't think of that did you?"

Carn ignored the human/batarian hybrid, and was trying to come up with another idea when Sara's small voice spoke up "Um… maybe I could do something?"

Carn turned to look at Sara, seeing that she was now holding her private terminal in her arms. "What did you have in mind?"

Sara set her terminal down on a nearby table, "I've been hacking into the station's systems for years. Mostly it's just so I can use the extra-net without restriction, but I've occasionally snuck out after curfew to get a midnight snack from the mess. I should be able to open the door for you."

_I think that's the longest I've heard her talk to me._ Carn nodded, moving to stand by the door. "Do it."

Sara tapped rapidly on her keyboard. Several long, stressful minutes passed before she finally said "Done."

The door slid open, and Carn was out in the hallway in an instant. He looked both ways, searching for any guards. When he was sure the coast was clear, he beckoned for the others to follow him. "Which way to Sector 19?" he asked once they had joined him.

"This way," Alec said, heading right down the hall. They dashed through the corridors for several minutes, occasionally having to stop for Sara to hack the heavy duty doors that separated the sectors. Carn was starting to wonder just how big this station was when they turned a corner…

…running right into three armed guards.

Before the guards could recover from their shock, Carn acted, running right into the middle guard, a human, and tackling him to the ground before he could draw his weapon. Not wasting time grappling with him, Carn struck the guard in the throat with enough force to crush his windpipe, silently thanking God and Spirits that the guards didn't have armor. He rolled to his feet before the other two guards could take aim at him. With a grin, Carn rushed the second guard, a batarian, and before he could strike him with the butt of his rifle, Carn lashed out with a jab to a nerve cluster just above the armpit. Careful to keep the batarian between him and the last guard, Carn wrenched the batarian's rifle from his grasp, bring the barrel up and jamming it beneath the batarian's chin before pulling the trigger. The batarian fell to the ground, dead, leaving the last guard and Carn facing one another.

The last guard, another human, looked at his two comrades, one dead, the other struggling to breath with a crushed windpipe, and dropped his gun, holding up his hands in surrender. "Look man, I'm just a guard, I don't want any trouble."

Carn considered briefly before slowly lowering the barrel of his gun.

Big mistake.

With startling speed, the guard knocked the gun out of Carn's hands, punching him in the gut. When Carn instinctively doubled over, the guard grabbed his throat, choking him. Carn clawed at the hands cutting off his breathing with surprising strength. Spots started appearing at the edges of his vision as his brain cried out for precious oxygen. Suddenly, there were several loud bangs and the guard's head jerked to the side, blood sprouting from a gaping hole in his temple. Carn took a deep breath of air as the guards hands fell away from his throat.

"Did I get him?"

Carn turned to see Erin being helped up by Alec and Sara, one of the guard's rifles lying on the ground next to her. She must have been knocked off her feet by the recoil. When she saw the body, Erin put a hand over her mouth "Oh God… I think I'm going to be sick."

Carn nodded in understanding, he still felt a little nauseous whenever he took a life. "Thanks." He said, picking up the rifle that had been lying next to Erin, "I owe you one."

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" Alec suddenly asked.

Carn frowned, straining his hearing. Sara spoke up "It sounds like…"

Carn finished "Gunshots."

…

They had managed to dock with the station without any trouble, and now Lily and Kal were standing by the airlock, waiting for Mars to open the doors. **"You're clear,"** Mars said over the Hermes' intercom, followed by the door opening.

Lily gave Kal one last look, "You ready?"

Kal pumped his shotgun "Let's go get Carn."

As soon as they stepped through the airlock into the station however, alarms started blaring, and a mechanical voice spoke over the speakers **"ALERT! INTRUDERS DETECTED! ALL SECURITY PERSONNEL REPORT TO SECTOR 19 IMMEDIATELY! ALL RESIDENTS ARE CONFINED TO QUARTERS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!"**

Lily snarled "_Mars_!"

"**It wasn't me, I swear!"** Mars said frantically **"I can't shut it off!"**

Lily swore, readying her pistol, "Fine, where do we need to go?"

Her omni-tool pinged as Mars said **"I've sent you the location of where Carn is being kept."**

Lily nodded, pulling up the location "Alright, stay in the system and see what else you can do."

"**Understood Captain."** Mars replied.

Lily and Kal quickly head further into the station, weapons ready for any guards that might appear. According to the information Mars gave them, Carn was being held in Sector 7, so they had a lot of walking to do. They didn't get very far however, before their progress was stopped by a very large door.

"It's in lockdown." Kal said, "Mars, could you get this open for us?"

"**No problem."** There was a loud beep, and suddenly a set of blast doors slammed down in front of the others. **"…I take that back, slight problem."**

Lily heard the thud of boots on the metal floor back the way they'd come. Spinning around, Lily and Kal aimed their weapons back down the hall. "You might want to get on that. Fast." Lily gritted her teeth "We've got company."

Not five seconds later, a dozen guards wearing black and white uniforms rounded the bend of the hallway. Kal immediately sent out Dex, the holographic blue and yellow orb zipping towards the guards just as they opened fire. Hugging the walls, their shields flaring, Lily and Kal retaliated with the crack of their own weapons.

"Mars!" Lily shouted over the racket "Any day now!"

[Sorry about that.] Dex quipped as the drone overloaded a guard's gun, causing it to explode in his hand. [You really should be more careful with your toys.]

Kal and Lily exchanged fire with the guards for what felt like an eternity before the door finally started to open. Not wasting any time, Lily leapt through the gap before the door had fully opened. Once she was on the other side, Lily turned and set Clint to full automatic, laying down suppressing fire as Kal quickly retreated through the door.

"Close it!" Lily ordered Mars as Dex exploded in the midst of the guards, stunning half of them with the electric surge.

The door swiftly shut, the control panel turning red as it locked down. Breathing a sigh of relief, Lily lowered her pistol, listening to the sound of the guards trying to force their way through the sealed doors. "You okay?" she asked, turning to Kal.

The quarian nodded "Yeah. We better hurry up and find Carn before we run into any more guards."

They resumed their progress towards Sector 7, the alarm blaring in their ears as they moved through the white hallways. They were often hindered by more security doors and guards. Still, they were getting closer to their goal. Nothing would stop Lily from rescuing Carn. Nothing.

"Get down!"

Except maybe half a dozen turrets.

Kal tackled Lily behind a table as the spot they'd been standing mere moments before was ripped to shreds. They had decided to take a shortcut through a mess hall, only when they entered, they had immediately been targeted by a half-dozen defense turrets stationed in the room.

Flipping the table on its side for better cover, Lily swore heavily "Can't you do something about these things?!" she yelled over the gunfire.

Kal shook his head "I already sent out Dex and those turrets gunned him down in five seconds!"

Lily swore, her mind racing for a solution to their current dilemma. Suddenly, a new gun joined the cacophony, and Lily could feel the number of rounds impacting the table lessen. Risking a quick peak, Lily poked her head out from behind the table and grinned at what she saw. Taking cover behind the door at the far end of the mess, having already destroyed one of the turrets and getting two more to target him, was Carn.

Lily ducked back behind the table before the turrets could get a lock on her and turned to Kal. "Could you send out Dex again?"

Kal gave her a confused look "Yeah, why?"

Lily grinned "Help's arrived."

Between the three of them, (four counting Dex) the rest of the turrets soon fell. When the last one had been destroyed, Lily climbed out from behind the battered table and raced to the other end of the mess. Carn, who was just coming out from behind the doorframe, barely had time to register Lily charging him before she flung her arms around him in a tight hug.

"I should have known you wouldn't let me play hero again." She said with a grin as she pulled away.

Carn rubbed the back of his neck "Yeah well, when I heard the alarm I decided it would be rude not to come and greet you myself."

Lily opened her mouth to make a witty reply when someone spoke up "Is this your cousin?"

Lily looked past Carn and saw three people hiding in the hallway behind him. Her jaw dropped "Carn?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell me I'm seeing things, because it looks to me like there's a guy with _four_ eyes and a _hybrid_ just like you."

Carn chuckled nervously beckoning the three to come out. "Uh… yeah… you're not. This is Alec," he gestured to the four-eyed human "Sara," he indicated the other human/turian hybrid "and Erin." He said, pointing to the last of the three, a seemingly "normal" human. "They're all… uh… hybrids… like me."

"Well not _exactly_ like you." Erin corrected "Alec's a human/batarian hybrid and I just have an asari nervous system."

Lily was pretty sure her jaw had hit the floor by now.

"I'm confused," Kal spoke up, joining them "I thought you were the only human/turian hybrid in existence?"

"Apparently not" Carn said sheepishly "Look, we can talk more on the ship, right now we need to-"

"Freeze!"

Snapping out of her daze, Lily quickly drew Clint and shot the guard that had appeared at the far end of the mess in the head without even looking at him. "Agreed." She said tersely "Let's get the fuck out of here."

…

Vilvia sighed as she read over the report again. 32 guards dead, 4 subjects escaped, and 6 turrets destroyed. "Well, this is… unfortunate."

Next to her, Kronov snorted "That's putting it mildly."

The floor opposite her rippled as the millions of microscopic nanomachines that made it up rearranged, rising to take the shape of the Matriarch's AI. The avatar scowled "You underestimated them."

"You're one to talk." Kronov shot back.

The AI snorted "Regardless, the fact of the matter is that you've made too many mistakes."

Vilvia sighed "It won't happen again."

"It better not." The AI sneered.

Vilvia looked back down at the report, "Has Cyan been fully scrubbed?"

The AI nodded "She should be able to function now."

"Good, have her link up with the station. I don't want a repeat of today." Vilvia stood up, turning to watch the galaxy spinning behind her.

After a moment of silence, the AI spoke up "You do realize that this means it is only a matter of time before Shepard finds us."

Vilvia turned to look the avatar in the eye "Then we'd best be ready."

…

Lily turned to Carn and the three new hybrids as soon as the Hermes had disappeared into the nebula. "Alright, explanation time."

Carn rubbed the back of his neck "Well… you remember how I was… created?" Lily nodded "I… wasn't the first."

"You're saying there are _more_ human/turian hybrids?" Mort asked incredulously.

"Dozens," Alec confirmed "And that was just in out Sector."

Lily and Mort looked shocked, Mars' avatar looked confused, and Nyn looked like she just didn't give a damn. Kal, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. "It makes sense actually," he said "From what my mom and Aunty EDI told me, when these people were holding Alice, they not only were combining two incompatible amino-acids, but were also accelerating the pregnancy. Doing one is risky, doing both… it's a miracle you survived. Unless…"

"Unless they'd already perfected the technique." Carn finished.

"But _why_?" Mort asked "Why would they bother creating hybrids?"

Carn shot Lily a troubled look "The asari in charge of this whole thing, Vilvia, she said she was trying to create the 'perfect' lifeform."

Lily cocked an eyebrow, "Okay, so she's a bat-shit crazy mad scientist. Good to know." She looked at their three guests "Still, she'll probably come after you, so we'll need a place to lie low for a while."

Nyn groaned "Please don't…"

Lily flashed a wicked grin "Nyn, set a course for… TORTUGA!"


End file.
